ORRCON RACING BEGINS THE 2004 GRAND FINALE
3/12/2004 18:24 (Press Release) -
Orrcon Racing began their quest to finish on a high in the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship when practice began for the Bigpond Grand Finale at Sydney’s Eastern Creek today.
Mark Winterbottom, the leading rookie in the Championship, impressed early during the opening session to be inside the top ten on the damp Eastern Creek circuit. Unfortunately the 23-year-old was unable to maintain his position as the rain cleared and the surface dried significantly.
“The car felt pretty good early but as the track dried I began to suffer from mid-corner understeer costing me a fair bit of time,” said Winterbottom.
“While the problem is certainly not dramatic it is highlighted when there are 14 corners on a circuit and if you loose half a tenth in each of them it equals the difference between 5th and 25th.”
Winterbottom’s Orrcon Racing team mate, Jason Bargwanna was in a similar position during the pair of 35-minute practice sessions.
“It hasn’t been one of our better days of the year but the good thing is that we are not lost for ideas on how we can rectify the problem,” said Bargwanna.
“There are a couple of issues in the set up that are very minor if they were by themselves but seem to be magnified on a circuit like Eastern Creek.
“We battled against a similar problem that we managed to get on top of when we were here earlier in the year. I am confident that the guys will have a solution by the morning for tomorrow’s final qualifying session of the year.”
Following the combination of the times in both sessions Bargwanna was placed 17th at the end of the day with Winterbottom 25th, just over a second behind the fastest driver Marcos Ambrose.
Ambrose was fastest followed by Jason Bright and Mark Skaife.
Qualifying and race one will be held tomorrow with the Championship culminating in a pair of 39-lap races on Sunday afternoon.
Network Ten will be telecasting the top ten shootout from 4:00 until 5:00pm on Saturday with the opening race telecast live from 6:00pm. The telecast continues on Sunday with four hours of coverage from 1:00pm.
Team sponsor, Orrcon, is one of Australia's largest manufacturers and distributors of tube, pipe and steel. With cutting edge technology and Quality Assurance certified to ISO 9001 in manufacturing, innovation, logistics and customer service solutions, Orrcon strives to achieve to be the best in Australia for the manufacture and supply of Precision, Structural and Oil & Gas Pipe.
Practice One
1: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 1:33.1291
2: Mark Skaife (Holden) 1:33.4146
3: Russell Ingall (Ford) 1:33.7172
4: Paul Morris (Holden) 1:33.7392
5: Warren Luff (Ford) 1:33.9806
6: Steven Johnson (Ford) 1:34.0692
7: Greg Murphy (Holden) 1:34.1953
8: Simon Wills (Holden) 1:34.2352
9: David Besnard (Ford) 1:34.2569
10: Jason Bright (Holden) 1:34.2905
11: Steven Richards (Holden) 1:34.2917
12: Craig Lowndes (Ford) 1:34.3048
13: Todd Kelly (Holden) 1:34.3298
14: John Bowe (Ford) 1:34.3329
15: Steve Ellery (Ford) 1:34.4112
16: Rick Kelly (Holden) 1:34.5083
17: Cameron McConville (Holden) 1:34.5602
18: Garth Tander (Holden) 1:34.5637
19: Brad Jones (Ford) 1:34.6296
20: Paul Weel (Holden) 1:34.7310
21: Paul Radisich (Ford) 1:34.7738
22: Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 1:34.8286
23: Jason Richards (Holden) 1:34.9254
24: Jason Bargwanna (Ford) 1:34.9849
25: Glenn Seton (Ford) 1:35.0207
26: Anthony Tratt (Holden) 1:35.6060
27: Craig Baird (Holden) 1:35.7255
28: Paul Dumbrell (Holden) 1:35.7401
29: Alex Davison (Holden) 1:35.9654
30: Owen Kelly (Ford) 1:36.3579
31: Lee Holdsworth (Holden) 1:36.4945
32: Christian D'Agostin (Holden) 1:37.0765
33: Dale Brede (Holden) 1:37.4589
34: Garth Walden (Ford) 1:38.1648
35: Max Wilson (Ford) 1:42.1475
Practice Two
1: Jason Bright (Holden) 1:33.1836
2: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 1:33.2436
3: Mark Skaife (Holden) 1:33.3194
4: Todd Kelly (Holden) 1:33.4069
5: Warren Luff (Ford) 1:33.4363
6: David Besnard (Ford) 1:33.4457
7: Craig Lowndes (Ford) 1:33.5321
8: Steven Johnson (Ford) 1:33.5561
9: Steven Richards (Holden) 1:33.5728
10: Paul Morris (Holden) 1:33.5764
11: Max Wilson (Ford) 1:33.631812: Steve Ellery (Ford) 1:33.6771
13: Garth Tander (Holden) 1:33.6851
14: Paul Radisich (Ford) 1:33.7229
15: Brad Jones (Ford) 1:33.7765
16: Russell Ingall (Ford) 1:33.7831
17: Jason Bargwanna (Ford) 1:33.7950
18: Paul Weel (Holden) 1:33.9616
19: John Bowe (Ford) 1:34.0099
20: Simon Wills (Holden) 1:34.2963
21: Paul Dumbrell (Holden) 1:34.3088
22: Craig Baird (Holden) 1:34.3593
23: Jason Richards (Holden) 1:34.3745
24: Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 1:34.3985
25: Glenn Seton (Ford) 1:34.4131
26: Owen Kelly (Ford) 1:34.5709
27: Cameron McConville (Holden) 1:34.6950
28: Greg Murphy (Holden) 1:34.7121
29: Rick Kelly (Holden) 1:34.9272
30: Lee Holdsworth (Holden) 1:35.1756
31: Dale Brede (Holden) 1:35.4138
32: Alex Davison (Holden) 1:35.5863
33: Anthony Tratt (Holden) 1:35.9170
34: Garth Walden (Ford) 1:36.9040
35: Christian D'Agostin (Holden) 1:37.5641
ORRCON RACING DRIVER HISTORY AT EASTERN CREEK RACEWAY
Jason Bargwanna
V8 Supercar rounds – 6 (Debut Round 1, 1999)
Best overall result – 5th (Round 13, 2003)
Best qualifying position – 7th (Round 1, 1999)
2004 Round 2 results – Qualifying 19th, Race – 8th
Mark Winterbottom
V8 Supercar rounds – 1 (Debut Round 2, 2004)
Best overall result – 12th (Round 2, 2004)
Best qualifying position – 25th (Round 2, 2004)
2004 Round 2 results – Qualifying 25th, Race – 12th
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday December 4
11:40am – 12:00pm Warm Up
1:40pm – 2:00pm – Qualifying (lower 50%)
2:05pm – 2:25pm – Qualifying (upper 50%)
4:10pm – 4:40pm – Top Ten Shoot Out
6:15pm – Race One (26 laps)
Sunday December 5
10:00am – 10:20am – Warm Up
12:20pm – Race Two (39 laps)
3:40pm – Race Three (39 laps)
TELECAST TIMES
Network Ten
Saturday, December 4:
4.00pm - 5.00pm: Top Ten Shootout
6.00pm - 7.30pm: Race 1
Sunday, December 5
1.00pm - 5.00pm. Race 2 & 3
Release Date: 03/12/2004
Larkham Orrcon Racing
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