R11 QUAL - Defending champs grab provisional pole
9/9/2000 15:58 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) - Defending Queensland 500 champions, Russell Ingall and Larry Perkins, have grabbed provisional pole at Queensland Raceway ahead of this afternoon’s top-ten shootout.
While the endurance specialists place little importance on pre-race times, the Castrol Commodore is now in an ideal position to repeat it’s performance of last year in the same event.
Together, Ingall and Perkins’ quickest time smashed Garth Tander’s 1999 lap record, stopping the clocks at 1:10.18 minutes.
They share the provisional front row with the Valvoline-Cummins lead pair of Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna. The youngsters’ best was two tenths slower than that of their oil company rivals.
Unseasonably warm conditions aided in quick times, with the top thirteen all under Tander’s record.
Ford’s best came from the Shell Helix garage, with Paul Radisich and Cameron McLean clocking the third fastest time. They share the provisional second row with Queensland-based compatriots, CAT Racing’s John Bowe and Jim Richards.
The K-Mart pair of Greg Murphy and Steven Richards continue to prove they are a force in qualifying as well as over a race distance, today recording a top five result in the 25-minute session.
Mark Larkham’s new Falcon was again among Ford’s fastest, with Geoff Brabham helping to put the car into sixth position. The quickest machine from yesterday, Tony Longhurst and David Besnard’s Caltex Havoline Ford, today could only manage seventh fastest.
The conservative approach of Championship leader Mark Skaife and co-driver Craig Lowndes appears to have been applied to qualifying as well, with the Factory Holden chargers finding themselves in eighth.
Battlers Paul Weel and Greg Crick surprised many with their quick times, enough for both to push into their first-ever qualifying shootout. Along with the K & J Thermal Products Falcon, four other Queensland-based entries have made the shootout.
Ford-Tickford racers Glenn Seton and Neil Crompton just snuck into the top ten. They displaced Shell’s father and son duo of Dick and Steven Johnson, who, much to the disappointing of adoring local fans, will watch the one-lap qualifying duel from pitlane.
Pirtek’s Craig Baird and Simon Wills, Super Cheap Auto racers Steven Ellery and Paul Stokell, HRT’s Todd Kelly and Nathan Pretty, and Big Kev’s Paul Morris and Kevin Schwantz, will also have to be content with their top fifteen placing after missing the shootout.
The ten fastest get one final chance to prove themselves in the top-ten shootout beginning at 2:15pm local time.
**TOP TEN QUALIFIERS**
1st PERKINS/INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VT Commodore [1:10.1840min]
2nd TANDER/BARGWANNA (Team Valvoline-Cummins) - VT Commodore [1:10.3875]
3rd RADISICH/McLEAN (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:10.4112]
4th BOWE/RICHARDS (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [1:10.5860]
5th MURPHY/RICHARDS (K-Mart Racing) - VT Commodore [1:10.5863]
6th LARKHAM/BRABHAM (Mitre 10 Racing) - AU Falcon [1:10.6122]
7th LONGHURST/BESNARD (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [1:10.6197]
8th LOWNDES/SKAIFE (Mobil-Holden Racing) - VT Commodore [1:10.7211]
9th WEEL/CRICK (K & J Thermal Products Racing) - AU Falcon [1:10.7446]
10th SETON/CROMPTON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [1:10.8122]
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