R10S QUAL - Ingall's on pole at wet and wild Winton
8/9/2001 18:42 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Russell Ingall has a long-awaited Shell Series crown within reach tonight, thanks to a similarly long-awaited maiden pole position at a wet and wild Winton Raceway today.
It has taken 66 Shell Series rounds for Ingall to break through for his first pole, clinched in this afternoon’s top ten qualifying shootout with a spectacular 1:24.33min lap.
His pole was all the more important considering how his fellow title aspirants fared in the ever-changing, treacherous conditions.
Third-placed Steven Johnson could only manage ninth in the shootout after qualifying in fifth, while the championship-leading Holden Racing Team continued to struggle at their bogey circuit.
Jason Bright spun in the shootout to finish last, while Mark Skaife failed to even make the session, qualifying back in 15th.
"I am just delighted to finally crack it," said Ingall. "It was a bloody hard day out there. It is just so important at this tight track to qualify up near the front so you can try to stay out of trouble and build a lead at the front."
Paul Morris produced another upset qualifying performance to secure a spot alongside Ingall on the front row, sixth-tenths slower the Castrol charger, ahead of Shell Helix Racing’s Paul Radisich.
While 2000 Winton winner Jason Bargwanna languished back in 19th, his similarly out-of-form teammate Garth Tander was a surprise provisional pole-sitter after the interrupted qualifying session.
The combined session – with conditions ranging from tolerable to terrible, sunshine to rain and even hail – was a case of being in the right place at the right time.
While most of the session was rain-marred, it cleared in the dying stages to allow one or two laps on slick tyres. Those who made the change – including everyone inside the top ten – found themselves well up the order, while those that didn’t – among them, strangely, Mark Skaife – suffered the consequences.
Tander clocked a 1:26.84min lap in qualifying, before slicing almost two seconds off that time in drier conditions to be fourth fastest in the shootout.
Equally surprising was the performance of Cameron McLean and the troubled Paragon Motorsport outfit, who put their off-track dramas aside to set the second fastest time in qualifying. The Queenslander then put his Falcon on the third row with an impressive hot-lap in the shootout.
"To say I am stoked is an understatement,” McLean exclaimed. “We've had some public tribulations that we are working through and this is a great way to bounce back.”
But perhaps the best performance of the day was by 43-year-old veteran Tony Longhurst and the under-funded Rod Nash Racing team, who’ll start from sixth tomorrow.
Impressive, too, was OzEmail Racing’s Brad Jones, who qualified in eleventh at his home track.
While many gambled and won in the unpredictable conditions, a number of high-profile entries cruelly fell victim to the weather.
Among them were Marcos Ambrose in 18th, Glenn Seton (who was forced to change an engine in practice) in 21st, Larry Perkins (despite being faster than his teammate in early practice) in 22nd, David Besnard in 24th and Steven Richards in 25th.
But they’ll all start ahead of one Craig Lowndes, who, on slicks, looked to be on a flier late in qualifying before spinning off at turn 10. He’ll start on the third-last row of the grid.
"The ironic thing is the splits we were pulling in that last lap would’ve made us 0.4 seconds faster than Tander,” said Lowndes.
Conditions are not expected to improve before tomorrow’s two 100km (32 laps) races, each with at least one stop for new tyres. Race one is at 11:30am.
**QUALIFYING - TOP TEN**
1st GARTH TANDER (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore [1:26.8443min]
2nd CAMERON McLEAN (Greenfield Mowers Racing) - AU Falcon [1:26.8614]
3rd RUSSELL INGALL (Perkins Motorsport) - VX Commodore [1:27.0949]
4th PAUL MORRIS (Big Kev Racer) - VT Commodore [1:27.6587]
5th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:27.9589]
6th TONY LONGHURST (Rod Nash Racing) - VX Commodore [1:28.2574]
7th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:28.4970]
8th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon [1:28.7428]
9th JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:28.8535]
10th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:28.9967]
**TOP TEN SHOOTOUT**
1st RUSSELL INGALL (Perkins Motorsport) - VX Commodore [1:24.3328min]
2nd PAUL MORRIS (Big Kev Racer) - VT Commodore [1:24.9150]
3rd PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:24.9154]
4th GARTH TANDER (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore [1:25.0289]
5th CAMERON McLEAN (Greenfield Mowers Racing) - AU Falcon [1:25.4027]
6th TONY LONGHURST (Rod Nash Racing) - VX Commodore [1:25.5214]
7th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon [1:25.6025]
8th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:26.0698]
9th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:27.1293]
10th JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:31.8195]
For complete practice/qualifying results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?09/09/2001.WIN
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