R8 QUAL - Seton grabs Ford's first 2000 pole at Winton
15/7/2000 18:22 (Press Release) - Glenn Seton will look to end a phenomenal Holden streak after taking pole position for the eighth round of the Shell Championship Series with a record breaking qualifying effort at the Winton Raceway in central Victoria.
Seton’s pole time eclipsed the Winton qualifying mark set by Jason Bargwanna in 1999 and gives the Tickford Falcon driver his first pole since the Darwin round in 1999, and the first pole for any Ford driver this year.
He holds a 0.3 second advantage over his nearest rival, quite a gap considering the next eight drivers are split by a similar margin.
"I had done low 1:23’s here in dry testing but I didn’t expect to go into the 1:22’s today. It was a good set of new tyres that did the trick," said Seton.
"The pole feels great but it will feel a whole lot better when we finish first tomorrow," he said.
Garth Tander was second fastest in the Valvoline Cummins Holden and a late charging Greg Murphy put his Kmart Holden in third. Murphy had been languishing well down the timesheets until a late dash rocketed him up the grid.
"We were all surprised at the end result. Our set up was a mile off early so I am pretty happy in the end," said Murphy.
Seton’s team-mate, Neil Crompton, qualified an equal career best fourth allowing the Tickford Ford outfit claim a rare victory over their Holden Factory counterparts in Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes.
The Holden Racing Team men are fifth and sixth respectively, the weakest qualifying performance for 2000 from the dominant outfit in the V8 Supercar ranks.
"We just didn’t do a good enough job today," said Skaife.
Crompton equalled his 1999 Symmons Plains qualifying performance and marks the strongest challenge posed to the Holden teams this year.
"It’s great for the team to have both cars up the front, a nice change," said Crompton.
Holdens have won the last 15 Shell Series rounds, equalling the Ford record achieved with the Sierras in 1989-90. The Ford streak was broken at Winton by George Fury in a Nissan and Seton will be hoping the circuit still holds the streak-breaking knack.
Also up for grabs is a $10,000 bonus from Ford boss, Geoff Polites, who is just as keen to see the Holden streak come to an end.
"I bloody well hope I can win it!" said Seton when asked what he thought of his chances.
"These sprint races are all won and lost on the first corner so now it is up to no one but me to get a good start and hold the lead,” he said.
“The style of this track means that the teams that test here are likely to hold an advantage because of the series of stop start corners and the set ups required. We expect to have that advantage tomorrow," Seton concluded.
Home ground advantage was clearly a factor with the Holdens of Steven Richards, Todd Kelly and Jason Bargwanna completing a top nine which comprises only drivers who use the Winton circuit as a test track.
This is a stark change from the last Shell Series round at the Queensland Raceway where all the local Ford teams struggled to convert their home track knowledge into race results.
The Shell Helix Falcon of early season contender, Paul Radisich finds himself 12th after a tight session where the top 16 drivers were separated by less than a second.
The 36-strong V8 Supercar field will do battle through three sprint heats, starting at 11.30am tomorrow.
**TOP TEN**
1st GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [1:22.852min]
2nd GARTH TANDER (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1:22.193]
3rd GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [1:23.205]
4th NEIL CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [1:23.211]
5th MARK SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1:23.266]
6th CRAIG LOWNDES (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1:23.288]
7th STEVEN RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [1:23.318]
8th TODD KELLY (Mycar Holden Young Lions) - VT Commodore [1:23.411]
9th JASON BARGWANNA (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1:23.450]
10th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [1:23.533]
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