Shell Helix Racing's Qualifying Improvement
9/5/2004 13:00 (Press Release) -
Shell Helix Racing's recent improvement has continued with both its drivers qualifying strongly for the first New Zealand V8 Supercar race tomorrow. Steve Johnson narrowly missed out on his first top-ten of the season taking 12th place and Warren Luff made big in-roads improving to 18th.
Amazingly Johnson missed out on the shootout by one-tenth of a second in the hotly contested qualifying session.
"I am really pleased to have qualified stronger today but am disappointed to have missed out on the shoot-out," Steve Johnson said.
"The Ford is going pretty well, we've made changes over the last couple of rounds that have really improved the overall package.
"I'm losing the time in the third sector, if I can fix that then I will improve by two or three tenths.
"If I had been able to do that today then I would have been well in the top-ten, I would have been in or near the top five."
For most of the day Johnson had been matching the leading drivers in the first two sectors but was unable to take his number 17 Ford home.
"We're right on the pace most of the time but just losing out as we come out of the hairpin," Johnson said.
"I've got to get on top of this, two tenths is a lot of time at Pukekohe."
Warren Luff was the big improver bettering his times by a second between the two practice sessions.
"I've driven at Pukekohe before but that was in a Peugeot 106 which is very different to a V8 Supercar," Warren Luff said.
"I just had to settle in as fast as I could this morning and record a time.
"Improvements started to show in the second session, particularly in the first two sectors, it took a while but I got to the second marker under 40 seconds which is what you've got to do to put a good lap in.
"You're never happy to be sitting in 18th but in the overall scheme of things I suppose it wasn't too bad.
"I'm not a long way behind the times needed to get to the top-ten so that is positive."
Both drivers are confident that they can do the job in tomorrow's first race.
"It's about getting through that first corner," Johnson said.
"If we can get to the back straight incident free then we'll be fine, but the esses can play havoc.
"I'm confident that both Warren (Luff) and I can do well tomorrow.
Release Date: 30/04/2004
Shell Helix Racing
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