Shell Helix Racing improving despite result
16/8/2004 12:15 (Press Release) -
The cards may have not fallen in the way Shell Helix Racing was hoping for at Oran Park Raceway this weekend but the team heads to the next round confident that it can be a force.
"Despite our results this weekend it hasn't been all bad," Steve Johnson said.
"My fastest time this weekend was eight-tenths faster than last year which is a very big gain.
"It shows we are going in the right direction.
"The race pace needs to be a bit better but we're getting there and I'm confident that we'll be very competitive at Sandown.
"Oran Park has not traditionally been our happiest hunting ground but we seem to get it together for Sandown and Bathurst.
"I'm looking forward to both events to see what we can do."
Steve Johnson had a mechanical problem in the first race that resulted in him parking his Ford in the pits for several laps.
"I could feel, and hear, some major vibration coming from the rear of the Ford; it wasn't too good," Johnson said.
"We thought it was the universal joint on the tail shaft but it ended up being a damaged diff; I really had no choice but to sit there and wait for the end of the race.
"We knew the Shell Ford couldn't finish the remaining laps of the race with the damage we had.
"The plan was to sit out a few laps and then go out so we could cross the finish line and finish the race.
"We wanted the points that we'd earned, it wasn't a lot of points but every point is important."
Johnson was disappointed to have lost so much position and so many points.
"To finish in thirty-second place is disappointing not to mention frustrating," Johnson said.
"It's one of those unfortunate situations, you don't know that things like this are going to happen but they do and when they do you've just got to wear it.
"Like Winton, we had some good points and then lost them, it's very frustrating."
Johnson's teammate Warren Luff finished in 25th place.
In the second race Johnson worked hard to finish in 17th place while Luff improved to 20th.
"I didn't really have much impact on the races today,' Luff said.
"The Falcon felt good at the start of the second race and I was able to make up position but I was pushed wide late in the race which lost me five places.
"I recovered a little but I thought I was in a good place to make the top fifteen in that race, but it was not to be."
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