Morris and Gurr struggle at Sandown
18/9/2004 17:45 (Press Release) -
Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore drivers Paul Morris and Alan Gurr struggled through today's Betta Electrical Sandown 500 V8 Supercar Championship race in Melbourne and finished 17th.
Morris, who qualified third, and his Gold Coast-based team gambled with a wet-weather set-up on their VY Commodore after heavy rain during in practice and qualifying for the ninth round of the championship. The decision was based on the likelihood of rain during the race, but that did not eventuate. Instead, the 160-lap event was held on a dry track surface.
The team's prospects were further affected by three separate incidents with other cars. Firstly Gurr spun off the track during the middle stages of the race after contact with the Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon driven by Alain Menu.
Later in the race Morris spun off the circuit after contact with Jason Bright's PWR Commodore. Morris also had to make a pit-stop after the steering arm of his car was damaged by contact with the Holden Racing Team Commodore driven by Jason Plato.
The Morris-Gurr challenge was further affected by an oil problem during the second half of the race which forced them to make unscheduled pit-stops. Eventually they completed the event seven laps behind the winning Pirtek Ford Falcon driven by Marcos Ambrose and Greg Ritter. The race featured 12 Safety Car periods.
Morris drove the opening stint of 59 laps and was in 12th position when he made his team's first pit-stop. Gurr then drove a similar length stint, before Morris completed the event. The team's fastest lap of 1-min 11.902-secs was recorded by Morris on lap 141.
Morris scored 128 championship points for his result at Sandown and remained 13th overall in the 13-round series with a tally of 861. Ambrose leads the championship with 1,487 points, with Bright second on 1,464. The 10th round of the championship is the Bob Jane T-Marts Bathurst 1000 at the Mount Panorama circuit on October 10. Gurr will again partner Morris at Bathurst.
PAUL MORRIS QUOTES: "Even though it was dry when the race started we thought it would rain at some stage so we went with a wet (weather) car set-up. It stayed dry so the race was a struggle. We dropped some positions in my opening stint, but there were plenty of Safety Cars and that helped us. Alan (Gurr) did a good job when he got in the car, but then he got turned around and that cost us time. In my last stint we had dramas with (Jason) Bright and (Jason) Plato and that put us further back. We dropped about five laps fixing the steering arm. Near the end I just cruised around and made sure we finished with as many (championship) points as we could get. It's a disappointing result considering how competitive we were in practice and qualifying, but I think we can do well at Bathurst. I was very impressed with Alan."
ALAN GURR QUOTES: "The car set-up was very soft because we had been banking on rain. If it had been wet we would have had a missile! Instead it was a 'soft' car and it chewed up the tyres. The car was fast on fresh tyres, then after about 10 laps they would fade out and you had to live with it. There was a long period without a Safety Car and that was when I came together with the (Ford Performance Racing) Falcon. At first I thought I might have been bogged in the grass when I went off because of all the rain over the past couple of days. I had to ease the car out slowly and it cost us about 40-seconds. After that I tried to push on, but there was a lot of understeer. The main thing is I've had some 'race miles' in the car for Bathurst."
RESULTS – RACE 1 (160 laps):
POS DRIVERS CAR TIME
1. M. Ambrose-G. Ritter Pirtek Ford Falcon 3:41:03.130
2. R. Ingall-C. McLean Caltex-Havoline Ford Falcon 3:41:06.438
3. S. Johnson-W. Luff Shell Helix Ford Falcon 3:41:08.310
4. G. Tander-C. McConville Repco Valvoline Holden Commodore 3:41:10.712
5. R. Kelly-G. Murphy Kmart Holden Commodore 3:41:10.967
6. J. Bargwanna-M. Winterbottom Orrcon Ford Falcon 3:41:12.407
7. J. Bowe-B. Jones OzEmail Ford Falcon 3:41:15.576
8. P. Dumbrell-T. Longhurst Castrol Perkins Holden Commodore lap down
9. Jason Richards-F. Coulthard Tasman Motorsports Holden Commodore lap down
10. J. Bright-P. Weel PWR Holden Commodore lap down
OTHER:
17. P. Morris-A. Gurr Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore 7 laps down
FASTEST LAP: Ambrose 1-min 10.825-secs
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after round 9): Ambrose 1,487; Bright 1,464; S. Richards 1,397; R. Kelly 1,373; Ingall 1,347; Murphy 1,284; T. Kelly 1,163; Tander 1,155; Bowe 1,004; Bargwanna 962. Other: Morris 861
|
|
