Morris Qualifies Seventh at Eastern Creek
4/4/2004 8:44 (Press Release) -
Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore driver Paul Morris overcame a minor mistake at Eastern Creek Raceway today to secure seventh starting position on the grid for tomorrow's second round of the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship.
The 36-year-old Gold Coast driver claimed a fourth-row start for tomorrow's 300km race by clocking the seventh fastest time in the one-lap Top 10 Shoot Out. He recorded 1-min 32.673-secs around the 3.9km circuit, after driving wide in the final corner entering the start-finish straight.
Morris' time was 0.752-secs behind Marcos Ambrose, who won pole position with the quickest lap in the Shoot Out in a Pirtek Ford Falcon. Mark Skaife will share the front row with Ambrose after finishing second in the Shoot Out in a Holden Racing Team Commodore.
Earlier in the day, Morris earned a position in the Shoot Out by finishing eighth quickest in qualifying in his VY Commodore, powered by a Holden Motorsport engine. Morris qualified for the Shoot Out four times in 2003, but today was his first appearance this year in the session to determine positions on the opening five rows of the grid.
PAUL MORRIS QUOTES: "It was good to make the Shoot Out, but I ran wide coming onto the straight near the end of the lap. I had to lift off and it costs me a couple of 'tenths' (of a second). Up until then it wasn't a bad lap. Importantly, we're starting near the 'pointy end' of the grid. The game plan tomorrow is to get a good run into the first corner and then settle in and take things from there. We spent the morning practice sessions making some more changes and performance-wise we made some gains with the car. In qualifying I only did three laps. We put down a good time which we thought would be good enough to get into the Shoot Out and then parked the car to save the tyres for tomorrow. The car is going really well and I'm quietly confident about the race if we have a good, clean run."
Release Date: 03/04/2004
Paul Morris Motorsport
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