R12S QUAL - Flying Kiwi on provisional pole
9/11/2001 16:27 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
The New Zealand flag waved proudly at Pukekohe Park Raceway this afternoon as more than 17,000 Kiwis celebrated hometown hero Greg Murphy’s provisional pole win.
Pole for the Boost Mobile V8 International will be decided at tomorrow morning’s Top Ten Shootout, but Murphy and his devout fan club – the biggest Friday crowd ever seen at a Shell Series event – were jubilant.
"I've been working hard over here to raise the profile of our sport, so it is really important to me to do well this weekend," said Murphy, who snared provisional pole with a determined 56.95s lap around the undulating 2.8km circuit.
"New Zealand sports fans haven't had much to cheer about lately and they have turned up in force today, so I am glad I gave them something to smile about."
The Holden Racing Team’s Mark Skaife and Jason Bright were the quickest in this morning’s two practice sessions, and are well placed in second and fourth respectively for tomorrow’s shootout.
Skaife hopes to wrap up the 2001 Shell Series Championship in tomorrow’s opening 100km race.
“I'd really like to have a couple of races on Sunday and at Sandown where there is no pressure on me from the championship point of view and have a really good go at it," he said.
Marcos Ambrose continued to surprise at unknown circuits, qualifying third.
Veteran Larry Perkins again out-paced his teammate to qualify fifth ("It's a pretty familiar track to me, I first raced here in about 1942," he joked), ahead of Murphy’s teammate, Todd Kelly.
Timing problems left Craig Lowndes back in 21st on the time sheets, but it was soon rectified for Lowndes to take his rightful place in seventh position.
Glenn Seton was eighth, ahead of Russell Ingall and Steven Ellery, who jumped up the order from the slower 50 percent qualifying session.
Just outside the all-important top ten was a Kiwi contingent of Paul Radisich, Simon Wills, Steven Richards and Jason Richards.
Radisich was bumped from the top ten by Ellery, while Jason Richard’s fifteenth-fastest time gave the local Team Kiwi Racing outfit plenty to smile about.
Wills, who is making his solo debut in the Shell Series as a replacement for John Bowe (he raced with Bowe in this year’s endurance races), said he battled understeer throughout the session, but remains “really confident we can do well.”
The shootout for pole is scheduled for 11am local time , ahead of the first 100km battle at 4pm (2pm AEST).
>> QUALIFYING – TOP FIFTEEN >>
1st GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [0:56.9591min]
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [0:57.0133]
3rd MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon [0:57.0813]
4th JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [0:57.1044]
5th LARRY PERKINS (Perkins Motorsport) - VX Commodore [0:57.2896]
6th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [0:57.3174]
7th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon [0:57.4036]
8th GLENN SETON (Ford Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [0:57.4795]
9th RUSSELL INGALL (Perkins Motorsport) - VX Commodore [0:57.4811]
10th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon [0:57.5573]
For complete practice/qualifying results:
http://www.v8supercar.com.au/nav/newslatest.htm
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