Morris charges into Top Ten Shootout at Bathurst
10/10/2004 7:21 (Press Release) -
Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore driver Paul Morris today qualified for a third successive Top 10 Shoot Out in this year's V8 Supercar Championship with a superb lap at Bathurst's Mount Panorama circuit.
Morris finished sixth fastest in qualifying to secure a berth in tomorrow's Top 10 Shoot Out, which will determine starting positions on the first five rows of the grid for the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 endurance race on Sunday.
The 36-year-old Gold Coast driver clocked a best lap time of 2-mins 8.490-secs around the 6.2km track in qualifying, held in fine conditions. He finished 0.396-secs behind Greg Murphy, who was quickest in the Kmart Commodore he is sharing in the 10th round of the 2004 championship with Rick Kelly.
Morris, who is driving at Bathurst with Alan Gurr, also qualified for the Top 10 Shoot Out in the previous two championship rounds at Oran Park in Sydney in August, and the Sandown 500 the following month.
During qualifying Morris had two incidents on the track. Early in the session there was a puncture on the left-rear of his VY Commodore. Later he drove straight ahead off the track at Turn One. Neither incident caused any damage to the car.
Gurr did not drive the Sirromet Wines Commodore in qualifying. Instead, he concentrated on his commitments driving a Smith's Trucks VX Commodore in tomorrow's Konica Minolta V8 Supercars event. Gurr has qualified fifth for the 25-lap race.
PAUL MORRIS QUOTES: "Qualifying had some highs and lows, but we ended up with a good lap and getting into the (Top 10) Shoot Out which is good. The session didn't start too well when I had a puncture after putting some new tyres on the car. I felt the car starting to wander around on the run up Mountain Straight so I slowed down and drove back to the pits.
"We threw some more new tyres on the car and I locked a brake and went straight ahead at the end of Pit Straight. Another set of tyres went on the car and that's when I 'punched' out my quickest lap. The time was 2-seconds quicker than my best yesterday – there is extra rubber down on the track, plus I was more committed in qualifying. We are carrying plenty of speed into corners. Near the end of the session I tried to do a better time, but coming out of The Cutting I got on the gas a bit hard and that was it."
ALAN GURR QUOTES: "Paul (Morris) did all the running today in qualifying and I concentrated on getting some laps in the (Smith's Trucks) VX Commodore I'm racing tomorrow. It's good to spend as much time as possible on this track, regardless of what you're racing. In terms of the Konica Minolta race tomorrow, we chasing more horsepower. I'm the only Holden driver in the first 12 – all the rest are Fords."
RESULTS – QUALIFYING:
POS DRIVERS CAR TIME
1. G. Murphy-R. Kelly Kmart Holden Commodore 2:08.094
2. J. Bright-P. Weel PWR Holden Commodore 2:08.128
3. S. Richards-Jim Richards Castrol Perkins Holden Commodore 2:08.136
4. C. Lowndes-G. Seton Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon 2:08.363
5. R. Ingall-C. McLean Caltex Havoline Ford Falcon 2:08.406
6. P. Morris-A. Gurr Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore 2:08.490
7. J. Bargwanna-M. Winterbottom Orrcon Ford Falcon 2:08.496
8. J. Bowe-B. Jones OzEmail Ford Falcon 2:08.519
9. P. Dumbrell-T. Longhurst Castrol Perkins Holden Commodore 2:08.528
10. M. Ambrose-G. Ritter Pirtek Ford Falcon 2:08.573
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
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