R1 PRE-QUAL - Stars emerge unscathed from Mallala
13/3/2002 18:39 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
V8 Supercar officialdom breathed a collective sigh of relief this afternoon, as the stars of the sport all survived a cutthroat pre-qualifying session at Mallala Raceway for this weekend’s Clipsal 500.
It was a perilous but, ultimately, a relatively easy passage to Clipsal 500 qualification for eleven drivers, including reigning V8 series champion Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes, Neil Crompton, Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly.
Skaife, not surprisingly, left nothing to chance, clocking the fastest time of the day, a 1:07.46min lap, to secure his rightful place on the Adelaide grid.
Briggs Motorsport’s Tony Longhurst, on the other hand, came dangerously close to eviction, only managing the eleventh fastest time. Teammate Simon Wills was third quickest.
Four drivers were culled from the field: Tomas Mezera, Greg Crick, Dugal McDougall and Ross Halliday. Imrie Motorsport’s Mezera was more than half a second off Longhurst’s time.
John Bowe, fourth fastest today in an impressive performance, said it was a nail-biting experience for all concerned.
“Before the session started, I hadn’t felt that nervous since Oran Park in 1995 when I was chasing (Peter) Brock and (Glenn) Seton for the championship,” the OzEmail racer said.
Wayne Gardner, sixth fastest in his Stone Brothers Racing-prepared Falcon, said the extra testing time will be of enormous benefit to him this weekend.
“It’s obviously pleasing for myself, the team and our sponsors to be in the field for the Clipsal 500, but I guess the really pleasing thing is the amount of gains we made today,” Gardner said.
Practice for the Clipsal 500, the opening round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, begins on Friday morning.
>> CLIPSAL 500 - PRE-QUALIFYING >>
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:07.4698min]
2nd CRAIG LOWNDES (00 Motorsport) - AU Falcon [1:07.6785]
3rd SIMON WILLS (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [1:07.7290]
4th JOHN BOWE (OzEmail Racing Team) - AU Falcon [1:07.8027]
5th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:07.9344]
6th WAYNE GARDNER (Stone Brothers Racing) - AU Falcon [1:08.2217]
7th NEIL CROMPTON (00 Motorsport) - AU Falcon [1:08.2571]
8th CAMERON McLEAN (VIP Petfoods Racing) - AU Falcon [1:08.3155]
9th LARRY PERKINS (Perkins Engineering) - VX Commodore [1:08.4194]
10th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:08.5646]
11th TONY LONGHURST (Team Betta Electrical) - AU Falcon [1:08.5657]
DNQ TOMAS MEZERA (Imrie Motorsport) - VX Commodore [1:09.1188]
DNQ GREG CRICK (3M Racing) - AU Falcon [1:09.2044]
DNQ DUGAL McDOUGALL (Dugal McDougall Motorsport) - VT Commodore [1:09.6307]
DNQ ROSS HALLIDAY (3M Racing) - AU Falcon [1:10.1744]
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