Tasman looks on the bright side of life
18/10/2004 19:40 (Press Release) -
A heartbreaking nine-lap pitstop to changed a holed radiator has denied Tasman Inner Circle Rum Motorsport a certain Top 10 finish in the Bob Jane T-Marts Bathurst 1000 at Mt Panorama, but the team has been buoyed by its new-found competitiveness in the race billed as one of the world’s toughest.
Drivers Jason Richards and Fabian Coulthard finished 20th in the #3 Tasman Motorsport Commodore, in the process picking up 116 championship points to strengthen Richards’ championship position to 19th, only 125 points behind 11th-placed Paul Weel.
The race was won by defending champions Greg Murphy – the son of Tasman Motorsport part-owner Kevin Murphy – and Rick Kelly of Kmart Racing, who drove a tactically brilliant race to lead home Craig Lowndes and Glen Seton (Ford Performance Racing) and John Bowe and Brad Jones (Brad Jones Racing).
Richards and Coulthard stuck doggedly to their ambitious game plan to stay on the lead lap, a well-prepared and engineered car keeping them in the mix until lap 128 of 161 when another car flicked up a rock which pierced the Tasman car’s radiator at high speed coming down Conrod Straight.
“I got a radiator warning coming down Conrod but the temperature was only 110 (degrees) so we continued around for another lap,” he said. “It kept on climbing and was up to 150 degrees the next time around so we knew something was pretty wrong. The thing was bleeding out all of its fluid so we had to stop.”
On their great start to the race, Richards could only shake his head ruefully afterwards. “It was all there for us, wasn’t it?” he said. “Only seven cars finished on the lead lap, so we would have finished no worse than eighth, and I think we could have picked off a few more. Top 5 would have been tough, but 6th would not have been out of the question.”
The radiator drama came on the back of two earlier unscheduled tyre stops, with track debris puncturing the car’s tyres. However, the strength and maturity developed within the team’s strong nucleus this year saw it adapt its pitstop plan to keep the car on the all-important lead lap.
“I think we learned a lot today, some of it was about ourselves and most of it was good,” said team general manager Jon Matthews.
“We knew we could prepare a car to match the big guns, and we’ve been developing strategically all year towards this point. I think when the test came we passed it, and only an incident beyond our control has stopped the day being a huge result for us.”
Coulthard, driving in his first Bathurst 1000, felt he had acquitted himself well and paid tribute to the team. “I came here to help Jason keep the car on the lead lap, because history shows us that you’re a certain top 10 here by doing that,” he said. “We did that until it was taken out of our hands, but you’ve got to say that the team did a great job as well. The car was well prepared and gave us every chance.”
The next round of the V8 Supercars Championship Series is at the Indy 300, on the streets of the Gold Coast, from October 21-24
Release Date: 10/10/2004
Tasman Motorsport
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