Shell Helix Racing race one report
26/11/2004 23:14 (Press Release) -
With Shell Helix Racing's Warren Luff starting in 13th and Steve Johnson in 19th the aim for both drivers was to get through the first few corners of today's race unscathed.
Johnson had a strong start getting up to 14th place by the end of the first lap while Luff dropped two positions to be in 15th.
On the first lap an unknown driver hit Luff's Ford and this forced him into Simon Wills' car. Soon after he was again hit, this time by Paul Morris, causing significant damage to the rear of his Falcon.
Johnson was able to enjoy an almost incident free race.
After all teams had pitted for tyres Johnson was in 18th and Luff in 19th place. Gradually they made it through the field to be in 13th and 14th places by lap 37.
On lap 39 Luff was tapped by Steve Ellery allowing him and Cameron McConville through, dropping Luff to 16th, were he would finish. Johnson finished a respectable 13th.
Warren Luff
Qualified: 19th
Race One Result: 16th
Quotes:
"About fifty metres after the start going into turn two I copped a hit from behind, I don't know by who, but this pushed me out onto Simon Wills and we had a pretty big coming together. This cost us both a bit of momentum going up to the hairpin; we both lost a couple of positions. After that Paul Morris decided to brake a postcode later than everyone else and drilled me big time into the hairpin.
"I think it put him out of the race and did a fair amount of damage to the back of my car. This effected the car's stability particularly when braking.
"Later on Steve Ellery gave me a fair old wack going into the hairpin forcing me wide, Ellery went past and Cameron McConville followed on through, so that was disappointing.
"I'm reasonably happy with the car, we still need to improve it for tomorrow. Both Steve and I are struggling in the same areas, through six and seven and turns one and two. We're not far away from being right, I'm hoping the boys will wave their magic wands at hand tonight and we'll have another red hot go tomorrow."
Steve Johnson
Qualified: 19th
Race One Result: 13th
Quotes
"Like Warren I got a little tap on the first corner but the damage was not bad.
"The person I passed the most was Warren! We couldn't get a way from each other. It was good fun though, it was good to race someone that was fair to race against.
"It was a good result I suppose given how far back I started and the lack of practice time I had. There's no substitute for laps both for a car and a driver so I would have liked to have spent more time on the track in practice. I've never been here before at speed so it was a big learning curve.
"It (the race) was fun though. I like the hairpin, there's a big bank and a big drop, it's almost like a bike velodrome. You can miss the apex and still have a good run out of the corner, you can almost take four different lines around it. So yeah it was good and I'm looking forward to the final two races."
Release Date: 13/11/2004
Shell Helix - Dick Johnson Racing
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