Podium placing keeps Bright's nose in front, Weel charges hard for sixth
16/8/2004 12:23 (Press Release) -
Series leader Jason Bright retains a narrow lead in the V8 Supercar Championship Series after overcoming adversity to finish third, while teammate Paul Weel made significant steps forward during the two 140km races to finish sixth overall.
Bright’s weekend had a bizarre start after a seized engine – later revealed to have been illegally tampered with – cost him participation in the crucial 90-minute first practice session.
With the engine replaced, Bright and his team began their weekend in Saturday’s second practice session and made remarkable progress to have him starting the first of two 140km races from sixth position.
“Full credit to the guys, we’ve had a pretty crook start to the weekend and we’ve come back and shown what we’re about,” Bright said. “Our car wasn’t ever great around here and we really wanted that 90-minute session to sort a few things out, so we were a fair way behind when we finally got started.”
Bright finished fourth and third in the two races to cement third placing for the round behind eventual winner Marcos Ambrose, who moves into second place in the championship just 13 points behind Bright.
“Our ambition was to win the weekend and not concede points to anyone, but that became a lot more difficult after what happened on Friday,” Bright said. “We’ve only ended up losing a handful of points to Ambrose so we probably should feel pretty good about that.”
Weel, meanwhile, set himself a hard task for the weekend by qualifying to start the race in 22nd position, but in typical fashion set himself to charge through the field.
Charge he did, and by “half time” had bullocked his way into 9th position, continuing his charge in the second race to claim 5th, and 6th overall for the round. The excellent result improves his championship standing to 14th after failing to finish the past two rounds due to mechanical failures.
“The car was really good and Craig (Spencer, engineer) did very well to turn it into a car I could drive,” Weel said. “The guys did good stops, and it ended up being a pretty good day for us.”
Following the race, PWR Racing owner Kees Weel addressed a press conference to explain the circumstances surrounding the Friday engine failure, in which the throttle jammed open at high speed with potentially dangerous consequences.
He said a post-session examination of the engine by crew members found a plastic bag and several bolts and washers jammed within the throttle and pistons, none of which were used by the team anywhere on the car.
“There’s only one way that stuff can get in there, and that’s if it was put there by someone,” he said.
“We’re not accusing anybody but we’d hate to see anything happen to anyone else. Whoever did it, knew what they were doing. We’re making people aware that we’re not happy, that it was dangerous and life-threatening. There are evidently some people out there who can’t be trusted.
“It makes me sick, just absolutely sick, that someone would do something so bloody stupid and dangerous. If the throttle had stuck two seconds before that, Brighty could have been smashed into the bridge or off the side.”
The next round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series is the Sandown 500 in Melbourne, where Bright and Weel will partner to drive the #50 car and Matthew White and Marcus Marshall will drive the #16 car.
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