How Brad Jones won Le Mans - almost
1/1/2001 1:36 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) - Brad Jones is unlikely to forget his whirlwind finish to the year 2000 in a hurry, after his Audi Sport prototype claimed line honours in last night’s Adelaide Le Mans race. Unfortunately, he was never allowed behind the wheel.
Scotsman Allan McNish and Italy’s Dindo Capello drove their Audi Sport prototype to a convincing, clinical victory in the inaugural day/night Race of a 1000 Years on the streets of Adelaide yesterday, as their eleventh-hour Aussie co-pilot Jones cheered them on from pitlane.
Back complaints from Series leader (and eventual Champion) McNish had the Audi Sport operation on the phone to Jones early Saturday morning to recruit the V8 Supercar campaigner as a back-up driver. The 40-year-old served the German marque for a number of years in the Australian Super Touring Championship.
Jones immediately flew to Adelaide from his home in Albury in time to watch his car claim pole position for Sunday’s race.
The OzEmail Racing spearhead completed a handful of laps in practice, but was not called on in yesterday’s race.
Jones was thrilled to part of the victory, no matter how small a part.
"It's a fantastic opportunity, an unbelievable opportunity. It's like being rung up and asked if you would like to drive a Formula 1 car in a Grand Prix and getting into the world champion's car and starting from pole position," a grateful Jones said.
McNish praised the efforts of Jones over the weekend, saying, “Brad Jones did a superb job in the car, it was a shame he didn't get a run tonight."
Meanwhile, the high-profile, all-Australasian entry of David Brabham and Supercar stars Jason Bright and Greg Murphy had their hopes of victory shattered after a heavy shunt midway through the six-hour race.
As a dejected Murphy explained, "I went to turn into the left-hander coming into Victoria Park and the car went straight on. I tried to pull out and steer it into the gravel trap but it wouldn't turn on the grass and went straight into the tyre barrier.”
"I really don't know what happened. It didn't feel like I made a mistake, but I can't work out why it wouldn't turn in," the Bathurst champ said.
After frantic repair work in the pits, new addition to the Holden Racing Team, Jason Bright took the helm and rejoined in tenth position before another off-track excursion late in the race. The trio finished in eighth.
"I am part of a very special team,” Brabham said. “They (the team) did a great job in getting us back on the track.”
"When we walked onto the podium, the crowd was fantastic – it was a brilliant atmosphere," he said.
Impressively, V8 Supercar part-timer Allan Heath was part of the podium-finishing Lola entry with Franz Konrad and Charlie Slater.
More than 80,000 packed grandstands around the longer version of the Clipsal 500 circuit to watch the twilight spectacle.
The exotic machines and international drivers will be back by popular demand in early December next year.
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