Disappointed Kelly qualifies fifth in Championship decider
5/9/2004 23:05 (Press Release) -
Team Fujitsu's Owen Kelly will start tomorrow's first race, on what is the final day of the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series, in fifth place. Kelly struggled in early practice today but improvements to his Fujitsu Falcon made him more competitive in qualifying.
"The Ford wasn't great this morning in practice, and my times reflected this, but we were better in qualifying," Owen Kelly said.
"Once we put on a good set of tyres the Ford started to perform a lot better.
"I am disappointed with my time though, I was hoping to go a bit faster."
A red flag and a puncture prevented Kelly from getting more out of his tyres.
"I was able to get a fast lap in early on my first set of tyres but when I went out on my second pair the session was red flagged," Kelly said.
"When I went out again I punctured a tyre so we were forced to come in and change it.
"It's probably fair to say that the session was against us a bit, but I don't want to make excuses, generally we just didn't have the pace today, so fifth is where we deserve to be."
Kelly goes into tomorrow's final three races of the season sitting third in the championship and believes he has a chance to win it, but admits it will be difficult.
"I've really got nothing to lose and everything to gain tomorrow," Kelly said.
"Obviously the start is the key, if I can make up a position or two that'll be good, if not I'll just sit back and watch what happens during the first few laps.
"I reckon Greg (Ritter) will mix it up a bit and you never know what Cameron (Mclean) will do; who knows I might be able to cruise and collect."
Whatever the result you can bet that Kelly will have a good go at it.
"Luke (Youlden) and Andrew (Jones) will be tough to beat tomorrow to win the championship, but I'll be going hard," Kelly said.
"You never know what will happen.
"I think whoever doesn't get hit or caught up by the backmarkers in the reverse grid race will win the round and the championship."
Fellow Fujitsu driver Jose Fernandez will start tomorrow's racing in 10th place after what has been a good day for the Sydneysider.
"Today has been good, I've been competitive all day and I've been happy with my times," Jose Fernandez said.
"I'm in tenth and that's not bad, a higher starting position would have been nicer but to have the top ten drivers separated by six-tenths of a second shows how competitive it is out there.
"I'll do what I've been doing all season; work hard, stay out of trouble and finish all races. This attitude has kept me in championship contention all year and while I don't expect to win the series tomorrow, crazier things have happened so I'll stay with this attitude."
There are three races tomorrow, the first starting at 11.25am (South Australian time).
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