Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 - Thursday Practice Reports
7/10/2004 17:32 (Michael Shaw) -
Practice 1
The opening session of the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 contained more than expected for Mark Skaife. While he was able to grab fastest time of the session on his final lap (2:09.5318), Mark also had an excursion through the gravel. Through Skyline, he touched the inside wall, which pushed him through the gravel trap.
Car 17 pulled what could be described as the surprise of the session by leaping to third place after the chequered flag had been waved. Steven Johnson was able to knock two seconds out of his previous best time and come across the line in 2:10.2864.
Marcos Ambrose’s day started poorly by putting his Falcon into the wall on his first lap. This incident put the car out for the entire session.
Top 10
1 Skaife/T.Kelly 2:09.5318
15 R.Kelly/Murphy 2:09.5520
17 Johnson/Luff 2:10.2864
12 Bowe/B.Jones 2:10.5864
50 Bright/Weel 2:10.5650
9 Ingall/McLean 2:11.1552
10 Bargwanna/Winterbottom 2:11.3583
31 Ellery/Youlden 2:11.3950
6 Seton/Lowndes 2:11 4331
11 S.Richards/J.Richards 2:11.4869
Practice 2
Most teams took advantage of the afternoon practice sessions to run only their number one listed driver in the first of the 30 minute sessions.
The session was highlighted by an off by Alex Yoong going through The Esses. His trip through the gravel trap created a dust cloud that blinded anyone else coming through. Both Paul Morris and Mark Skaife slid through the gravel, with Skaife lucky to miss the wall on his exit.
The aftermath lelf at the bottom of The Esses slowed the cars for a short period of time in the session as the gravel slowly cleared to recreate the racing line.
Russell Ingall, while working on improving the tyre life, pulled out a 2:09.4275 to take second for the session and also the second fastest time of the day. His teammate, on the other hand, had his woes continue with an engine problem during the session. This left car 1 in 13th position and out of the third practice session for co-drivers.
Stone Brothers Racing will be replacing the engine, which means that Greg Ritter will not be in the next session. With only one engine allowed for the weekend, the team will be relying on their race engine for the remaining sessions as well as the race, otherwise they will be sent to the back of the grid.
Topping the time sheets was defending Bathurst winner, Greg Murphy, over half a second quicker than Ingall. “The car is not quite the same as it was 12 months ago.” When pushed during the press conference, Murphy admitted that if they could get the car to respond how they want, they believe they are ahead of where they were this time last year.
Top 10
15 Murphy 2:08.7906
9 Ingall 2:09.4275
10 Bargwanna 2:09.6166
12 Bowe 2:09.6323
50 Bright 2:09.6783
31 Ellery 2:09.7605
11 S.Richards 2:098290
17 Johnson 2:09.9378
2 Skaife 2:10.0128
6 Seton/Lowndes 2:10.2399
Co Drivers (Practice 3)
The third and final practice session of the day was limited to co-drivers only. This created a slight mix up in the normal order of the time sheets.
Both OzEmail Racing cars were in the top 4, with Brad Jones and John Cleland behind the wheels. Max Wilson improved the speed of the car immensely and finished second.
Four cars didn’t run in this session - 1, 33, 24, 16.
Top 10
B Jones 2:09.9965
Wilson 2:10.0432
R Kelly 2:10.0965
Cleland 2:10.2857
McConville 2:10.4098
T Kelly 2:10.4353
J Richards 2:10.6326
Winterbottom 2:10.7627
Luff 2:10.8879
Youlden 2:11.0050
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