A Car-Crushing Clipsal 500
24/3/2004 0:44 (Press Release) -
Stone Brothers' Racing's Marcos Ambrose kicked off his V8 title defence with
resounding victories in both 250k legs of the Clipsal 500 at the weekend,
while many of the balance of the teams will be counting the cost of what
appeared to be a crash-fest in Adelaide.
Estimations of a damage bill for the weekend is in the 100's of thousand of
dollars as the likes of HRT's Todd Kelly, Perkins' Engineering's Tony
Longhurst, both Garry Rogers Motorsport VY Commodores, Dick Johnson Racing
and Larkham Motorsport's Mark Winterbottom among others, all suffered major
impact damage across the 3 days. All that, and the teams are left with a
little over a week to make the necessary repairs before heading off to
Sydney for round 2 at Eastern Creek!
The Holden Racing Team this time wasn't able to maintain its amazing run of
success at the Adelaide event after 5 consecutive victories since the
Clipsal 500 began in 1999. Todd Kelly's massive race #1 lap 2 crash at turn
8 ruined car #22's chances, while Mark Skaife finished 7th and 17th, dealing
with a pinched nerve in his back in race #1 and limping home in a damaged
car in race #2.
HRT is fully focused on bouncing back at the Eastern Creek round in less
than a fortnight and is confident of having the car speed at the Sydney
circuit to pressure Ambrose and the other early-season pacesetters, after
being more than competitive there in the last round of 2003.
If the on-track performance wasn't a true indication of HRT's performance,
the off-track abilities of the team were well and truly highlighted in
Adelaide. Following Todd Kelly's high-speed clash with the concrete on
Saturday afternoon, it was a remarkable effort to have the car not only on
the grid Sunday, but also competitive.
Work began on the car at 5.00pm on Saturday, shared between 4 specialists
from HRT's chassis partner Dencar and the Car #22 crew. Once the
technicians from Skaife's VY Commodore had completed the servicing of that
vehicle, they too joined the rebuilding process on Kelly's car, finally
finishing at 5.30am Sunday when the crew travelled back to the Team hotel
for a shower and change, before returning to the circuit for the day's
racing!
12 ½ hours to replace the left side of the vehicle, the left-hand front
suspension ALL the rear suspension and the various other components of a
$30-40,000 crash!
That team spirit and dedication transferred itself to the all-important pit
stops, where the HRT cars were able to gain track position through fast and
efficient turn-around in the Compulsory Pit Stops.
The Holden Racing Team's was unable to optimise the best car set up in
qualifying when for the first time in many years, both "red" cars qualified
outside the top 10. As previously mentioned the Kelly crash further set
back the weekend, while in race one a recurrence of an old racing injury in
Mark Skaife's back, pinched the sciatic nerve leaving him with a numb right
leg. This problem also surfaced in 1999, leading to Mark crashing out of
the race that year so for Mark to complete half Saturday's race with this
impediment and still come 7th, was a great effort!
Kelly managed vital points with a 10th-place finish on Sunday with a car
that was good and straight but, lacking the suspension set-up following the
crash. Skaife had a drama filled day, with 2 spins and finally contact with
David Besnard's Ford after Besnard turned in on him in a corner. While the
Ford driver received a drive-through penalty for the incident it was of
little consolation to Mark and the Team as the collision damaged the
steering of the #2 VY Commodore resulting in a long pit stop for repairs and
a slow run to the flag to ensure a points finish.
The V8 Supercar points system has one key element change this year whereby
if you do not finish a race, you receive no points - hence HRT's
determination to ensure Todd's car was repaired and, Skaife's Commodore
finished Sunday's 250k leg. Skaife therefore sits 10th after round 1, 66
points away from Marcos Ambrose with Todd Kelly in 17th.
It will be vital to finish the upcoming Eastern Creek meeting as it is a
one-race round and a non finish there and zero points could virtually ruin
your season! Those already with an "0" on the score sheet include Craig
Lowndes in the FPR Falcon, Tony Longhurst, Steve Ellery and both team
Dynamic Commodores.
In Adelaide, Ambrose could not have wished for a better start to his title
defence with comprehensive wins in both races but - apart from his SBR
team-mate Russell Ingall's 3rd in race #1 - is not receiving a lot of
support from his fellow Ford teams! Holden drivers fill positions 2nd, 3rd,
4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th after round 1, with John Bowe the only
other Ford representative in 9th!
Ambrose raised this concern in Sunday's post race media conference.
Driver Mark Skaife - Car#2 Todd Kelly - Car#22
Practice #1 6th 9th
Practice #2 6th 15th
Qualifying 13th 14th
Top 10 Shoot out - -
Race One 7th DNF
Race Two 17th 10th
Overall 10th 17th
Championship Points 126 69
Position in C'ship 10th 17th
2004 V8 Supercar Championship Top 10 Positions after Round 1:
Driver Team Points
1st: Marcos Ambrose Pirtek Ford 192
2nd: Steven Richards Castrol Perkins Commodore 186
3rd: Paul Weel PWR Racing 171
4th: Greg Murphy Kmart Racing Team 159
5th: Jason Bright PWR Racing 147
6th: Rick Kelly Kmart Racing Team 144
7th: Paul Dumbrell Castrol Perkins Commodore 141
7th: Paul Morris Sirromet Commodore 132
9th: John Bowe Ozemail Racing Team 126
10th: Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team 126
Release Date: 23/03/2004
Holden Racing Team
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