R9S PRAC - Morris tops times; contenders warm-up
24/8/2001 20:17 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Queenslander Paul Morris toped the time sheets after today’s provisional practice for the VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 at Queensland Raceway.
The Calder round winner set a 1:10.65min lap in the second of two practice sessions to go into tomorrow’s qualifying as the fastest driver.
Morris will share driving duties in the Big Kev VT Commodore this weekend with British Touring Car driver, Matt Neal.
“I guess it is very encouraging to be on top of the time sheets this early in the weekend, but we need to reproduce the efforts tomorrow in qualifying,” Morris said.
Second fastest was another Queenslander in Tony Longhurst, who along with Tomas Mezera is part of the Holden Racing Team’s B-team.
Longhurst was .05sec slower than Morris, ahead of Tasmanian Greg Crick in Marcos Ambrose’s Pirtek Falcon.
That said, most teams spent the day fine-tuning their race package ahead of Sunday’s 161-lap challenge rather than post hot laps.
One of the pre-race favourites, the Shell Helix Falcon of Paul Radisich and Steven Johnson, was half a second off the pace today, but Radisich is not in the least bit concerned.
"The guys at the front today were using fresh tyres and chasing times,” he explained. “We don’t need to do that because we know how quick we can go here, it’s more important for us to get the cars working well for the distance.”
Championship leaders Mark Skaife and Jason Bright, sharing the Holden Racing Team’s lead car, were fastest in the opening 60-minute practice session, before dropping to fourth in the second 30-minute session.
Earlier in pre-qualifying, RPM International’s Phillip Scifleet failed to secure a grid position for Sunday's race.
With eight cars bidding for seven positions, Scifleet, who was to share the drive with Aaron McGill, was the sole non-qualifier.
More practice is scheduled for tomorrow morning, ahead of qualifying and a top fifteen shootout for pole.
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