HRT Fast But Without Luck As The 'Creek Overflows!
14/4/2004 22:48 (Press Release) -
2004 V8 Supercar Championship Round 2
As it did in the last round o the 2003 season, Sydney's weather again played
its part in last weekend's 2nd round of this year's Championship, when rain
lashed the Eastern Creek circuit on race day.
Taking full advantage of the wet and slippery conditions was Kmart Racing's
Rick Kelly who had the combination of an ideal temperament and car set-up to
become the youngest ever solo, V8 Supercar/Australian Touring Car
Championship round winner. Kelly junior also has the title of youngest ever
Bathurst winner, which he scored when he and Greg Murphy won Bathurst last
year.
For the Holden Racing Team, Todd Kelly finished 19th and Mark Skaife 22nd,
but it was a much more positive HRT post Eastern Creek than it was after
Adelaide a fortnight ago! The Team worked hard all weekend to regain the
pace missing at Clipsal and was rewarded with both cars in the Top 10 in
qualifying and the Shoot Out, as well as being more than competitive in the
race.
The treacherous conditions caught more than one car out and both Skaife and
Kelly suffered. Skaife had a small spin early in the race when he purposely
rotated his car to avoid hitting Marcos Ambrose then later - while
effectively in 2nd place - ran wide while overtaking a lapped car and, spun
into a gravel trap.
Skaife lost 2 laps while being towed out of the sand and continued to be
classified 22nd. Todd Kelly had his share of dramas too while being in a
strong position. Running 5th with 20 laps remaining, Kelly had little
vision through a faulty windscreen demister and consequently ran wide and
spun off the circuit.
Unable to gain clear vision around the corner of the approaching traffic,
Kelly was hit twice while rejoining the circuit and to add insult to injury,
received a drive through penalty for returning to the track in an unsafe
manner! 19th was the end result for Kelly.
Both HRT drivers now have a long haul back up the Championship points score,
but the Team remains confident considering the outright car speed of the
"red" cars at eastern Creek.
Driver Mark Skaife - Car#2 Todd Kelly - Car#22
Practice #1 2nd 18th
Practice #2 15th 11th
Practice #3 8th 7th
Qualifying 2nd 5th
Top 10 Shoot out 2nd 5th
Race 22nd 19th
Meeting Points 66 84
Championship Points 192 153
Position in C'ship 15th 21st
PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING:
With only 6 official test days for the year, the V8 teams had the luxury of
a 90-minute/28-lap maximum free practice session on Friday at Eastern Creek.
HRT took full advantage of this time to implement some of its research and
development ideas conceived during the off-season and the gains -
particularly since Adelaide - were obvious with Mark Skaife taking 2nd
position in both qualifying and the Shoot Out, while Todd Kelly took 5th in
both.
John Bowe pipped Skaife in Qualifying but the Ford driver ran off the track
during the Shoot Out and would start from 10th, leaving Marcos Ambrose to
take pole by .09 of a second from Skaife.
RACING:
With one, 300-kilometre race on Sunday, finishing was a priority! Sydney
decided to add a "curve" ball to the equation by predicting showery
conditions, but Sydney's version of a shower is one that began around
10.00am and continued until sometime that evening! It would be a wet race!
So wet in fact that the race actually started behind the Safety Car to try
and prevent a massive first lap crash. The move was successful with no real
dramas except for Mark Skaife's minor rotation on lap 5 that cost him 4
positions.
The Safety Car was back out again at the end of lap 7 after Steven Ellery
had a major "off" at turn #1, burying his Supercheap Falcon in a concrete
wall! It took 6 laps to remove the battered Ford and to re-position the
wall and, leaves Ellery with no Series points to date and, the last
competitor to make the 32-car cut-off for the next round in New Zealand.
By this stage, Kmart's Rick Kelly had stormed through from 17th on the grid
to 5th, was 2nd by lap 20, was effectively in the lead by lap 40 and was the
outright leader b y lap 50. From there he was never headed until the race
ended prematurely behind the Safety Car on lap 67.
A number of drivers might have thought they could challenge the 21 year old
- including HRT's Mark Skaife - but as mentioned, Skaife's chances ended on
lap 44. The other charger towards the end was FPR's Craig Lowndes who also
put in a stellar drive from 15th on the grid.
Lowndes recently has struggled in the Factory Ford team and had no points
heading to Eastern Creek and once again his car looked like it would
struggle. However the conditions brought the field back to the #6 Falcon
and Lowndes' undoubted skills brought the car through to 2nd at the
conclusion.
Third was Garth Tander's Garry Rogers' Motorsport Commodore - a great result
considering that team had to re-build 2 shattered cars in less than a
fortnight after Adelaide while a solid drive from Steve Richards in the
Perkins' Motorsport Commodore for 4th place, leaves Richards with the
overall Series lead heading into New Zealand.
Marcos Ambrose drops to 2nd in the standings, while Rick Kelly win elevates
him to 3rd while a couple of new faces are in the top 10, including Jason
Bargwanna (5th) and Team Kiwi's Craig Baird
2004 V8 Supercar Championship Top 10 Positions after Round 2:
Driver Team Points
1st: Steven Richards Castrol Perkins Commodore 360
2nd: Marcos Ambrose Pirtek Ford 348
3rd: Rick Kelly Kmart Racing Team 336
4th: Greg Murphy Kmart Racing Team 327
5th: Jason Bargwanna Larkham Motorsport 270
6th: Jason Bright PWR Racing 267
7th: Paul Morris Sirromet Commodore 264
8th: Craig Baird Team Kiwi Racing 258
9th: Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport 222
10th: John Bowe Ozemail Racing Team 216
NEXT ROUND:
The team's have until the end of next week to prepare their cars before
travelling to Brisbane to load the transporters on the ship to New Zealand
for round 3 at Pukekohe.
The Holden Racing Team sees the New Zealand round as a prime opportunity to
begin its climb back up the Championship points score, especially after its
performance there last year. The 2 HRT cars were at or near the top of the
time sheets in practice and qualifying and Todd Kelly missed out on pole in
the Shoot Out when the times from the session were wiped due to rain half
way through the run-off.
Skaife finished the weekend 2nd overall and Kelly 3rd, with Skaife just
failing to break Greg Murphy's "stranglehold" on the event after a race #1,
turn #1, lap #1 contact with Max Wilson.
The Team is confident that with the car speed shown in both wet and dry
conditions at Eastern Creek, it will be in the mix again at Pukekohe.
Release Date: 07/04/2004
Holden Racing Team
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