Ellery and Youlden kick off Sandown 500 campaign in style
10/9/2004 23:20 (Press Release) -
Steven Ellery and Luke Youlden have started their assault on the Betta Electrical Sandown 500 in fine form with the runners up of last year’s event fourth fastest when today’s two practice sessions where combined.
Ellery’s fourth fastest time reinforced the fact that Ellery and Youlden make a formidable pairing and are expected to once again produce a strong finish in Sunday’s 500 kilometre race around Sandown International Raceway in Melbourne.
In the second practice session, Youlden was also fourth fastest making the Super Cheap Auto Racing duo the second fastest pairing after the first two practice sessions of the event.
Ellery noted that today’s time and the position it placed the Super Cheap Auto Racing Falcon is an indication of the speed contained within the car and driver pairing.
“It appears as though the form we had at Sandown last year has followed us into 2004 which is great,” Ellery said, “however we have broken the trend already and started the event with two really good practice sessions which will provide us with a platform to work on during qualifying tomorrow and the race on Sunday.”
“We did a bit of work on the Super Cheap Auto Racing Falcon this morning which gave us more speed and made a better quality race car today and a package which has the ability to be towards the pointy end of the field.”
Youlden used the second practice session for co-drivers only as an opportunity to re-familiarise himself with the Sandown circuit and adapt his driving style to a manner which is similar to Ellery’s.
“A lot of people think as a co-driver we can just hop into a car and drive it and immediately feel comfortable and produce quick times,” Youlden commented.
“However, it is a matter of familiarising yourself to the car setup and adapting your driving style to one that is similar to the other driver to make the most of the fantastic package put together by the Super Cheap Auto Racing crew.”
“Before the session I took a bit of time to look over the data and think about the way Steven [Ellery] drives and I was happy to know on track it all worked and furthermore I felt extremely comfortable.”
Qualifying for the Betta Electrical Sandown 500 commences at 12.40pm tomorrow after another practice session in the morning. Final starting positions for Sunday’s 161 lap race will be decided after the top ten shootout at 3.15pm tomorrow.
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