Eastern Creek A Key To V8 Supercar Series Success!
4/4/2004 8:30 (Press Release) -
This weekend's 2nd round of the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship looms as a potential defining round in this year's Series. Outside of the 2 Enduro events at Sandown and Bathurst, Eastern Creek and the rounds at Queensland Raceway and Winton are stand-alone races, where a non-finish of any kind means no points!
All the other regular race weekends are a combination of 2 or 3 races so - even with a non-finish - there is still the opportunity to score valuable Series points. This differs from last year where a driver still collected points for not finishing, as long as he had completed 75% of the race distance.
For the Holden Racing Team, this was evident in Adelaide a fortnight ago where the Team worked overnight Saturday to repair Todd Kelly's VY Commodore and made running repairs to Mark Skaife's car during Sunday's heat to ensure he made it the finish line, with both Skaife and Kelly scoring valuable points.
Eastern Creek this Sunday is a single, 300 kilometre race with Compulsory Pit Stops for tyres and fuel and given the "must finish" aspect of the event, a little conservatism may be in evidence by the V8 teams.
Despite the Holden Racing Team's dramas in Adelaide, the Team believes it has an excellent chance of climbing back up the Championship standings in Sydney.
"If you take a look at last year's season-ending round at the 'Creek, you find Todd (Kelly) and I had 2 very quick cars - the same ones we'll have on Sunday" Mark Skaife said this week.
"We qualified 1st and 2nd, and my car had a ½ a second gap on the 3rd quickest vehicle so, we head there with a degree of confidence - car speed wise.
"The other aspect of course is to finish the race; even after Adelaide, I'm only 60-odd points off the lead so if we can have a good weekend and others cop a bit of bad luck, we're right back up there again." Said Skaife.
Todd Kelly's thoughts on the Eastern Creek round are similar to Skaife's.
"My VY was quick there last November so the car is a known quantity and should be on the pace.
"The guys did a remarkable job to get it out for Sunday's leg of the Clipsal 500 and, they've done a remarkable job since to have it ready for Sydney.
It came back from the paint shop late last Saturday afternoon and they've worked flat-out to have it on the truck last night (Wednesday.)"
"I have a bit of work ahead of me to get back up in the Championship chase and, I'd like to start that this weekend.
In the 11 rounds held at Eastern Creek in the 10 years of the V8 Supercar category, Holden has had 7 wins (all by HRT) and Ford 4, with Holden's Commodore holding the qualifying and race lap records.
V8 teams have a free 90-minute/28-lap practice session on Friday, before the normal program of 2 practice periods, qualifying and the Top 10 Shoot Out on Saturday, followed by the 77-lap/300k race at 1.30pm on Sunday.
Release Date: 01/04/2004
Holden Racing Team
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