Engine Failure Stops Johnson
25/5/2004 12:18 (Press Release) -
An engine failure has forced Shell Helix Racing's Steve Johnson to retire from today's 17 lap, 50-kilometre sprint race at Darwin's Hidden Valley raceway.
On lap nine Johnson's Ford suddenly lost power forcing him to make his way back to the pit garage.
"We've had problems with engines in Darwin in the past, I was hoping that all of this had been put behind us," Steve Johnson said.
"The engine itself looks fine, there's no holes and it's not covered in oil, the boys will look at it closely when we return to the Gold Coast.
"It's basically an engine failure, simple as that."
Johnson was most disappointed at missing out on points.
"This year will be one of the hardest fought seasons that V8 Supercars has ever had, you can see that in the points already, you can't afford to drop a lot of points," Johnson said.
"I was in the championship top ten when I got to Darwin, with this result you can bet your house that I'll be down the middle of the table come Sunday night."
Johnson admits tomorrow will be difficult but at the same time he is looking forward to the challenge.
"I'll be starting from the rear of the field tomorrow, and that's always tough, but when you are in this position there's nothing to lose so you really go for it," Johnson said.
"It's actually a bit of fun carving your way through the field, especially if you've got a car with a bit of speed.
"I've got a good race car so I'm hoping that I can do this and salvage something."
In the other Shell Helix Ford Warren Luff finished in 22nd place after starting two places lower.
"It was bit lack lustre out there today," Warren Luff said.
"I didn't have much impact on the race.
"I didn't have one of my better starts and that hurt me, but I managed to take back a few places.
"I suppose the positive is that I finished higher than I started.
"We'll study the race data and look at ways to make our package stronger and hope that we can be more competitive in tomorrow's remaining two races."
There are two 35 lap races tomorrow, the first starting at 11.45am (Darwin time) the second at 2.30pm. (Darwin is 30 minutes behind East-Coast time)
Release Date; 22/05/2004
Shell Helix Racing
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