V81000 QUAL - Fresh Fords set the qualifying pace
5/10/2001 20:05 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Two brand-new AU Falcons sit on the provisional front row at Bathurst’s V8 Supercar 1000 after today’s qualifying session.
Glenn Seton, still without a Bathurst crown after 17 years of mountain misery, grabbed the top spot with a slick 2:09.67min lap.
Seton was the first to drop into the 9sec bracket mid-way through qualifying, and was not headed.
Craig Lowndes climbed up the time sheets throughout the day to join Seton on the provisional front row.
Both the Ford-Tickford Falcon, shared between Seton and Steven Richards, and Lowndes’ radical Gibson Motorsport machine, with Neil Crompton in support, are on debut this weekend.
Despite being just .16sec outside Mark Larkham’s 1999 qualifying record, Seton said the car is capable of going quicker.
"I actually buggered it up at the end of Mountain Straight, but it's a pretty good time nonetheless," he said.
"It's the most comfortable car I have ever driven here. My childhood dream is to win Bathurst. I have taken myself too seriously for the last 12 months so I have come here this weekend to enjoy this race."
Lowndes’ time was equally impressive, but may have been bettered had he not spun at Murray’s Corner late in the session.
"I was just trying a little bit harder and went over the limit there," Lowndes explained. "There was no damage done and I'm very happy with our new car.”
Mark Skaife slashed four-tenths of his record Thursday time, but failed to match the Fords this afternoon. But from third, the one-lap wonder is poised to pounce on pole position during tomorrow morning’s Top Fifteen Shootout.
The No. 2 Holden Racing Team Commodore of Jason Bright and Tomas Mezera is similarly well-placed in fourth.
Seasoned mountaineer John Bowe continued his strong showing this weekend, putting the CAT Racing Falcon he’ll share with Kiwi Simon Wills into fifth spot on the provisional grid.
Understeer cost the team time late in the session, but Bowe was buoyed by the performance.
The new-liveried Castrol Commodore of endurance specialists Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall qualified in sixth, one better than the impressive Super Cheap Auto pair of Steven Ellery and Geoff Brabham.
After qualifying, Ellery said he’d “never been to Bathurst with a car this good.”
Defending Bathurst champions, Garry Rogers’ young chargers Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna, were ninth fastest.
Surprisingly, the lead Shell Helix Falcon of Paul Radisich and Steven Johnson was outclassed by the team’s junior squad of Cameron McLean and Greg Ritter.
Ritter set the tenth fastest time this afternoon, while Johnson, who with Radisich was robbed of practice time this morning with a broken tailshaft, put the No. 17 car into twelfth.
Dick Johnson said it was “mission accomplished” after both his cars made tomorrow’s pole run-off, and the team can now focus on Sunday’s major prize.
Others to make the top fifteen cut-off included the age-mismatched Ford-Tickford Racing pairing of six-time winner Jim Richards and Dean Canto, Paul Weel and Tim Leahey in their Falcon and, despite blowing an engine early in qualifying, the Big Kev racer of Paul Morris and Ashley Stichbury.
Of those who won’t be given the chance to improve their position tomorrow, rookies David Besnard and Matthew White just missed the shootout in 16th, John Faulkner and Peter Doulman were 17th and pole-sitters from the two previous Bathursts, Mark Larkham and Wayne Gardner, qualified in 18th.
Rodney Forbes was the session’s most severe casualty, slamming into the concrete barrier at the Esses. The Gibson Motorsport crew face a long night to repair the damage if Forbes and co-driver David Parsons are to make tomorrow afternoon’s final practice session.
Meanwhile, Wayne Wakefield will start from pole position for tomorrow morning’s Konica V8 Supercar Challenge.
Wakefield beat his Stone Brothers Racing stable-mate, Matthew White, to pole by eight-tenths of a second.
Michael Simpson will start his EL Falcon from third, ahead of Kevin Mundy and Mal Rose.
The 30-lap Konica V8 Supercar Challenge gets the green light at 8:40am tomorrow, before today’s fastest fifteen shootout for pole position at 10:45am.
>> V8 SUPERCAR 1000 QUALIFYING - TOP FIFTEEN >>
1st SETON/RICHARDS (Ford Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [2:09.6770min]
2nd LOWNDES/CROMPTON (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon [2:09.8533]
3rd SKAIFE/LONGHURST (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [2:09.9671]
4th BRIGHT/MEZERA (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [2:10.2285]
5th BOWE/WILLS (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [2:10.2441]
6th PERKINS/INGALL (Perkins Motorsport) - VX Commodore [2:10.4869]
7th ELLERY/BRABHAM (Super Cheap Auto Racing) AU Falcon [2:10.6664]
8th KELLY/MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [2:10.6836]
9th TANDER/BARGWANNA (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore [2:10.7412]
10th McLEAN/RITTER (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [2:10.8956]
11th AMBROSE/WAKEFIELD (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon [2:10.9040]
12th JOHNSON/RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [2:10.9073]
13th RICHARDS/CANTO (Ford Tickford Racing) AU Falcon [2:11.3017]
14th WEEL/LEAHEY (K & J Thermal Product) - AU Falcon [2:11.3390]
15th MORRIS/STICHBURY (Big Kev Racer) VT Commodore [2:11.4556]
For complete practice/qualifying results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?07/10/2001.MOUN
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