Series Points In The Bank For Team Dynamik
14/4/2004 22:02 (Press Release) -
Team Dynamik will happily pocket championship points and plan for the next V8 Supercar round, after a rain-shortened race at Eastern Creek today. Officials red-flagged the Round 2 race at 67 laps, with heavy rain reducing visibility and creating dangerous conditions at the western Sydney circuit.
Team Dynamik’s Simon Wills in the Roadships car #44 battled traction problems in the wet conditions but held his nerve and finished in 16th, collecting 102 points, his first of the Series.
Teammate Dale Brede calmly avoided the chaos around him to finish 27th in the Roadships car #45, ahead of five cars, to also collect 36 V8 Supercar points, his first ever.
Brede’s windscreen wiper failed early in the race but he overlooked the problem to maintain a competitive position in bucketing rain.
The rain eased off around the 20 lap mark and most of the field clocked their best times in this window. Wills nailed a 1:47.7668 on his 23rd lap, while Brede’s best time of 1:48.2849 came on lap 22.
“When it was dry the car was among the quickest cars on the track and when it was wet, we weren’t. It was mostly wet …,” Wills remarked.
“There was just no grip in the wet and we’ll have to examine the reasons when we get back to the workshop,” he said.
Brede was rapt to have collected his first V8 Supercar points but also frustrated by the conditions. “Our lap times early in the race were good,” he said. “But there were some dramas later on and it became important to just get the car home and collect some points,” he said.
“In the last ten laps I just couldn’t see a thing.”
Both Team Dynamik cars made their compulsory pit stop early for tyres, a strategy which had both running well ahead of their grid positions. But the wet track and numerous safety cars eroded this early advantage.
K Mart Racing’s Rick Kelly collected his first ever round win today, while Craig Lowndes shrugged off recent poor performances to come in second, with Garth Tander third.
Wills’ final placing did not reflect his strong qualifying during this round, where he qualified for his third straight Top 10 Shootout, and started 8th today.
Team Dynamik now looks to the New Zealand round later this month at Pukekohe, where Wills qualified strongly last year.
Release Date: 04/04/2004
Team Dynamic
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