R3 QUAL. SHOOTOUT - Series leaders on front row
7/4/2000 21:07 (Press Release) - A huge Friday crowd of 43,000 saw Shell Championship Series leader, Garth Tander, claim a career first pole position in the Clipsal 500 Adelaide and he will be joined on the front row by his nearest title rival, Mark Skaife.
The young Valvoline Cummins Holden racer produced a smooth and clean lap in the top ten shootout to take the top spot with a time of 1:26.03.
"The first part of the lap was pretty slow but I put a lot in to the rest of it and was pretty satisfied with the time," said Tander.
Ignition problems struck the Shell Helix Ford of provisional pole sitter, Paul Radisich as he set out to try and better Tander's time leaving "The Rat" to start from ninth position on the grid.
"It would have been interesting to see if Radisich could go quicker but it wasn't to be," said Tander.
"Getting my first Shell Series pole is great. It's what I was aiming for but the double points are on offer in the two 250km races this weekend, not for qualifying, so that is what I am focusing on now."
The Holden Racing Team's qualifying specialist, Mark Skaife joins Tander up
front with Castrol Holden's Russell Ingall and 1999 Adelaide winner, Craig
Lowndes, filling the second row and creating an all-Holden top four.
"It's much better to be up the front here than down the grid where you can
be tangled up in incidents," said Skaife.
Ingall was another well satisfied with his qualifying performance after a disappointing start to the season.
"I was surprised with my time and I'm well pleased with where we are," said
Ingall.
"Our reliability has always been fine and now we seem to be making inroads with our speed which is becoming increasingly important in these endurance events."
The hero of the 1999 Adelaide event after his incredible last to first victory, Lowndes was simple in his view of his position.
"I've got Mark (Skaife) in front of me so all I have to do is railroad him at the first corner and away I go," he quipped.
John Bowe is the highest ranking Ford driver after an impressive flying lap in his CAT Racing Falcon, with Ford Tickford¹s Glenn Seton in sixth.
"It's been a long time since I have been up the front, I had almost forgotten what it was like," said Bowe. "It's pretty good and the race should go well."
Veteran Larry Perkins is seventh while Tander's teammate, Jason Bargwanna
qualified eighth.
Ninth placed Radisich had set a blistering pace in initial qualifying, setting a fastest time of 1:25.06 in a frantic session where provisional pole position changed hands on seven occasions.
His ignition problems in the shootout were a great blow to his morale after such a promising start but he is still hopeful of a strong showing.
"I'm obviously incredibly disappointed," said Radisich. "We'll start from ninth tomorrow which is a lot further back than we expected, but it's a long race and Lowndes proved here last year that you don't need to be on pole to do well."
Steven Richards forfeited his shootout lap as his team worked to repair his Kmart Holden following a big crash on pit straight during the earlier qualifying session. He will start from tenth tomorrow.
Cameron McLean showed that he will feature in tomorrow's race with a strong
12th in his Greenfields Mowers Falcon. The likes of Tony Longhurst, Steven Johnson and Craig Baird will also be ones to watch as they try to make up ground from their grid places outside the top ten.
The first of the 78-lap, 250km legs will be held tomorrow afternoon with the second leg on Sunday.
With the double points on offer, all the V8 Supercar drivers will be determined to leave with a strong result to consolidate their assaults on the 2000 Shell Championship Series.
**TOP 10 SHOOTOUT TIMES**
1st GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1:26.0315]
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1:26.1962]
3rd RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [1:26.3731]
4th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1:26.7301]
5th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [1:26.7518]
6th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [1:26.7958]
7th LARRY PERKINS (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [1:27.4627]
8th JASON BARGWANNA (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1:27.6687]
9th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [4:43.9422]
10th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [No time recorded]
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