Noske Makes Most Of Late Entry
15/6/2004 11:51 (Press Release) -
WPS Racing’s Mark Noske made the most of his last minute inclusion into the field for the fifth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Barbagallo Raceway on the outskirts of Perth today.
At the completion of the three-race round Noske emerged in 20th position in what was just his second race meeting of the year.
He only earned entry to the race last week as the round was restricted to the top 32 drivers in the championship series.
Going into Perth Noske was 33rd on the table due to the fact he only made his season debut in the fourth round in Darwin last month.
However, the withdrawal of one driver allowed Noske to be included in the Perth round and he made the most of the opportunity.
“It was nice to get out there and get some track time,” said Noske.
He finished 25th in the final race but, despite going into the round with an admittedly under-strength car, consistent results across the weekend saw him scrape into the top 20 on accumulated points.
“I was driving the car to its limits so I guess it was a satisfying result,” said Noske.
“We are still working on the overall chassis and engine package so the weekend was about finishing the races, collecting data from the car and learning how to move forward.
“Overall it was a very tough weekend but at the same time it is pleasing to finish with some points.”
It wasn’t such a good weekend for WPS Racing team mate David Besnard, who finished the round in 30th position due to no finishes in the first two races.
He put in a better showing in the third race the round on Sunday afternoon to place 22nd after being 18th just half a dozen laps from the finish.
Besnard had been in a dogfight all afternoon with three other drivers and managed to defend his position until going too deep into a turn and running off the track.
“A few of those guys then snuck through so that was a little disappointing,” said Besnard.
“But overall the car has come a long way ... we changed a few things in the front end and now it’s nicer to drive.
“We are now on top of things so I’m confident we will stop going backwards and start building some forward momentum.”
Team owner Craig Gore said there were some exciting lessons learned about the two cars and he was confident of more a more forward showing in the next round.
“We are using this year to learn about our cars and we should start getting better from here on in,” said Gore.
“Our improvement might not be evident in our results on track, but it is definitely noticeable in our data and in the driver feedback.”
Earlier in the day, Noske put in a determined effort to finish the second race in 18th position.
He started the race from 22nd on the grid and engaged in several tight battles throughout the 42-lap morning race.
Besnard, who started from 27th position after a crash in the previous day’s race, also showed some good early form in race two before being forced to retire at the halfway point with a punctured radiator.
The incident happened after he ventured off the track and into a slight ditch. He quickly found his way back on to the track but immediately lost coolant pressure and headed straight into the pits to park his car for the balance of the race.
The retirement saw him register his second DNF of the three-race weekend.
Besnard, driving WPS Racing’s Car 23, only made it to the track on Sunday after his team worked throughout the night to repair extensive damage from Saturday’s first race.
The right front side of his car was destroyed following a late race incident where the damaged car of Paul Dumbrell strayed into Besnard’s driving line.
Besnard was traveling in excess of 200kmh when he struck Dumbrell’s car. The crash forced him out of the race just shy of completing lap 41 of the 42-lap charge.
WPS Racing mechanics worked until 2am to repair the damage in time for the two-race Sunday program.
RESULTS
ROUND 5 POINTS
1: Jason Bright 190
2: Marcos Ambrose 178
3: Rick Kelly 178
4: Garth Tander 166
5: John Bowe 154
6: Mark Skaife 148
7: Greg Murphy 146
8: Paul Weel 140
9: Todd Kelly 140
10: Steve Ellery 130
11: Steve Johnson 130
12: Brad Jones 124
13: Russell Ingall 120
14: Steve Richards 116
15: Jason Richards 106
16: Mark Winterbottom 98
17: Tony Longhurst 92
18: Max Wilson 86
19: Cameron McConville 84
20: Mark Noske 68
21: Jason Bargwanna 58!
22: Paul Morris 58
23: W! arren Luff 56
24: Anthony Tratt 56
25: Paul Dumbrell 56
26: Dale Brede 42
27: Simon Wills 24
28: Glen Seton 24
29: Craig Lowndes 24
30: David Besnard 22
31: Craig Baird 20
32: Paul Radisich 8
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (After 5 of 13 rounds)
1: Marcos Ambrose 872
2: Rick Kelly 822
3: Steve Richards 820
4: Greg Murphy 811
5: Jason Bright 783
6: John Bowe 638
7: Russell Ingall 634
8: Garth Tander 600
9: Todd Kelly 597
10: Paul Weel 569
11: Steve Johnson 543
12: Mark Skaife 540
13: Jason Bargwanna 496
14: Craig Baird 448
15: Paul Morris 444
16: Mark Winterbottom 442
17: Craig Lowndes 414
18: Paul Radisich 400
19: Brad Jones 396
20: Max Wilson 390
21: Glenn Seton 365
22: Paul Dumbrell 347
23: Jason Richards 343
24: Tony Longhurst 314
! 25: David Besnard 314
26: Warren Luff 306
27: Simon Wills 304
28: Anthony Tratt 266
29: Steve Ellery 260
30: Cameron McConville 242
31: Mark Noske 118
32: Dale Brede 118
33: Mark Porter 58
34: David Krause 0
35: Phillip Scifleet 0
36: David Thexton 0
37: Terry Wyhoon 0
|
|
