R1 - What they said...
18/3/2002 15:03 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Driver quotes from round one of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, the Clipsal 500 Adelaide.
MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) – 1st
"We made a couple of small changes to the car overnight, obviously it was good yesterday so we didn't want to do too much.
I drove better today than yesterday, I made a few little mistakes then and I was angry with myself, so this feels much better. I was concentrating as hard at the end there, when Marcos dumped the oil, it doesn't take much of a mistake to bump the wall."
GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) – 2nd
“There’s a long way to go until the end of the season, but this is an excellent start and I’m thrilled. We made changes to the car for both the first and second races and in each one it was better.
In (Sunday’s) race I could see Skaife and I could have tried to catch him, but I thought it was better to finish second and in the points rather than on my roof.”
STEVEN RICHARDS (Castrol Perkins Race Team) – 4th
"It was nice to be in a good battle. When the car’s working half-right you don't get as hot, and I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday."
CRAIG LOWNDES (00 Motorsport) – 5th
“Today was much tougher than yesterday that’s for sure. As much as I love this event, it’s the toughest race of the series and the heat this weekend has made things very difficult in the car to say the least.
The car itself was much better than it had been earlier in the week after the team made some adjustments overnight and I’m delighted to finished both races this weekend within the top five. It’s been a great start to the championship for the team.”
STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) – 6th
"The good news is that I got some points on the board but not nearly as many as I wanted. I just think it was one of those weekends, we were unlucky on and off the track, and all we can do is get it together next time out.”
TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) – 8th
“It’s been a tough weekend for me, but I suppose I can be happy that we’ve finished eighth and we’ve come away with points from both races.
My car hasn’t been right all weekend and in the second race I had brake problems from early on and that slowed me. At the end of the race my car ran out of fuel and I tried to keep out of the way while getting to the flag. I ran wide at turn out and got caught out and hit the wall. Thankfully we limped around to finish 12th and eighth overall.”
MARCOS AMBROSE (Stone Brothers Racing) – 9th
“We really pushed on towards the end there and I think we could have at least finished on the podium.
This weekend was all about getting as many points as possible, so from that perspective it was pretty disappointing for us, but it was not a total loss. We got some points yesterday and I think we showed we had reasonable car speed all weekend and will be competitive for the rest of the season.”
TONY LONGHURST (Team Betta Electrical) – 10th
"It was like an oven inside the car and it really was exhausting to say the least. The car was performing very well during the race, although my outcome would have been a little better had I not had to stop for a small fuel top-up seven laps from the finish.”
JOHN BOWE (OzEmail Racing Team) – 12th
“This is a great start to the season for both the OzEmail Racing Team and myself and proves that with even more work on development we can be a real force this year. Brad (Jones) and I set ourselves a goal to have at least one car finish in the top ten and it’s nice to be able to achieve this in the first round of the year.”
WAYNE GARDNER (Stone Brothers Racing) – 22nd
“I played with everything in the car and really discovered some things about the Falcon which should help us in our remaining races this year. In fact I have almost found a whole new direction for us.
It was certainly a long, long way out there in today's heat, but we finally got home and put some points in the bank. I am looking forward to getting back in the car at Eastern Creek."
SIMON WILLS (CAT Racing) – 23rd
"It was a real endurance race out there, although the car was still showing some damage from yesterday's altercation, the CAT Racing Falcon lasted the distance in extreme conditions.
I'm not too disappointed with the performance. I think with cooler conditions everyone would have performed better. I can't remember when I last raced in such heat."
GLENN SETON (Ford Credit Racing) – 26th
"I'm OK, but it was a big hit, the safety measures we've built into the car clearly worked. It's too early to know if the car can be repaired. We'll get it back to Melbourne and make an assessment then. We do have a second car in the workshop, so with a month to Phillip Island we (will) make an assessment on which car we take.
Not a great weekend, but we did score 30 points which is better than nothing.”
DAVID BESNARD (Stone Brothers Racing) – 27th
"I managed to get the car home, but it could have been much better for us. Like Wayne (Gardner), I battled oversteer most of the day and things certainly became worse with the tyre wear.
I don't think the result over the weekend gave a true indication of what we will be capable of this season."
CAMERON McLEAN (VIP Petfoods Racing) – 28th
"I pitted and had a tie-rod bolt changed, but it took until four laps before the finish and I just nursed the car to the end hoping it wouldn't break again.
It was a pity, because until then we had been making good progress. I had pitted on lap 55 mainly to get my drink bottle reconnected, but the guys also threw on a new set of rear tyres and we were heading for a strong finish.”
PAUL MORRIS (Paul Morris Motorsport) – 29th
“The main problem was muscle spasms. I couldn't brake, and when I turned into corners there was sharp pain in my lower back. I had to keep stopping in the pits. Each time I'd get out of the car and do some stretching and put some ice on my back.
It's disappointing what happened because the car felt good. It was the best it's been, but I wasn't able to drive it properly.”
CAMERON McCONVILLE (Lansvale Racing Team) – 30th
“It is a shame because the car was great after the warm-up and after yesterday's early end to the race, I really needed to salvage some points from this season opening round. It has been a very tough weekend for us from the word go and now we have to focus on a much better performance at Phillip Island."
PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) – 32nd
"I went into the race this afternoon with the goal of finishing, and I was picking off quite a few people without taking any chances, but unfortunately I had a mechanical problem which might have been associated with the accident. It just doesn't seem to be my weekend.”
NEIL CROMPTON (00 Motorsport) – 33rd
“Whatever frustration I’m feeling is felt in a much higher degree by our engineering staff who have worked beyond reasonable limits to get this new car out on the track this weekend. We’ve got some sort of electrical gremlin and in the cold light of day I’ve got no doubt that we’ll solve the problem, bounce back, and succeed.”
STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) – 34th
"I'm really happy with what we achieved before the crash and I think our performance goes to show we're going to be serious contenders this year. Everything else was perfect; the car was in fine shape, we'd worked hard to make sure we'd do well and everything had gone to plan before that happened."
MAX WILSON (Team Betta Electrical) – 36th
"I've enjoyed this event even though I didn't finish and it has been very good experience for me. Now we go to Phillip Island where I know I will do better for the fans."
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