Morris uncorks fastest lap in V8 Supercar practice
14/8/2004 15:30 (Press Release) -
Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore driver Paul Morris continued his impressive speed of 2003 at the Oran Park circuit near Sydney when he uncorked the fastest lap in today's opening practice session for the eighth round of this year's V8 Supercar Championship on Sunday.
Morris qualified third for the Oran Park championship round 12 months ago, and was in second position in the race until being penalised with a 'drive-through' penalty which effectively put him out of contention for a potential top three podium finish.
The 36-year-old Gold Coast driver mastered the 2.7km circuit today, clocking the fastest lap time of 1-min 9.265-secs in dry and windy conditions. He finished 0.203-secs clear of second-quickest Simon Wills in a Team Dynamik Commodore, with Jason Richards third in a Tasmanian Motorsports Commodore, and Mark Skaife fourth in a Holden Racing Team Commodore.
Morris, who suffered three broken vertebrae at Oran Park in 2000 when his car burst into flames after contact with Mark Larkham's Ford Falcon on the grid, set his best practice time on his 32nd of 33 laps in the session.
There will be two further practice sessions tomorrow, followed by qualifying and the Top 10 Shoot Out to determine starting positions on the first five rows of the grid. There will be two races of 140km each on Sunday. Morris finished eighth in the previous championship round at Winton in Victoria on July 25
PAUL MORRIS QUOTES: "We started the session with basically the same car set-up which worked well for us here last year. Then we made some changes and the car got better and better every time we went out. I was in the top five most of the session, and then we banged some better tyres on the car near the end and nailed down a good time.
"It's good being fastest, but it's still early days. The track was a bit dusty today and everyone will go quicker tomorrow. We've got good car speed so hopefully we can keep it going and get into the (Top 10) Shoot Out. There's no reason we can't get a good result here if we have a decent run."
RESULTS – PRACTICE:
POS DRIVERS CAR TIME
1. Paul Morris Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore 1:09.265
2. Simon Wills Team Dynamik Holden Commodore 1:09.468
3. Jason Richards Tasman Motorsports Holden Commodore 1:09.542
4. Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Commodore 1:09.689
5. Rick Kelly Kmart Holden Commodore 1:09.779
6. Steven Richards Castrol Perkins Holden Commodore 1:09.888
7. Greg Murphy Kmart Holden Commodore 1:09.923
8. John Bowe OzEmail Ford Falcon 1:09.968
9. Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Falcon 1:09.986
10. Cameron McConville Repco Valvoline Holden Commodore 1:10.061
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after round 7): Bright 1,131, S. Richards 1,126, R. Kelly 1,116, Ambrose 1,106, Ingall 982, Murphy 979, Tander 924, T. Kelly 897, Bowe 728, Bargwanna 652. Other: Morris 604
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