R2 - What they said...
15/4/2002 0:44 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Driver quotes from round two of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Phillip Island Raceway.
MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) – 1st
"We would like to think we could do well here, we always have so we expected a good result. I wouldn't have thought we could do so well in Adelaide.
In the first race I wasn't good enough to get past Marcos (Ambrose), and we knew we'd have to get the jump on him in the second.
The championship is looking pretty good, but it is a long series and we've got to keep our heads down."
TODD KELLY (Kmart Racing Team) – 2nd
“This is a great result for both myself and the team. We needed the points after Adelaide and despite the car set-up still not being quite right, we were able to work hard and finish with a strong result.
We did have a problem exiting the pits in the first race and that cost us positions, but we were able to claim a couple back. We’re continuing to make progress and I think at Eastern Creek we’ll be in an even stronger position.”
PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) – 3rd
"I really needed to do well this weekend to make up for Adelaide where I got no points. After the frustrations of Adelaide I am pretty pleased with my drive today, and it’s great to get some points and look at what we can do about the championship.
In race two I managed to pick up the pace by a second over race one, so if I can keep that progress going in the rounds ahead I should be placed fairly nicely. We also learnt a lot about the car this weekend and that will help us to continue to move forward."
MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) – 4th
"I will probably look back in a few years and count that win in race one as one of the best of my career. The pit stop by our guys was just fantastic and helped us get back the advantage. I have kept saying that these HRT guys could be beaten and it's great that we have managed to do that today.
The second race was obviously a shame because we really had the car speed to challenge Skaife for the win. The accident with Wilson did not need to happen."
CAMERON McCONVILLE (Lansvale Racing Team) – 6th
"Overall I'm absolutely stoked to finish race two in fourth. We made small changes to the car between races that were definite improvements and again we called it right to pit early – the guys deserve full credit for their fast stops.
We had luck on our side today, which was a very pleasant change."
GLENN SETON (Ford Credit Racing) – 8th
"After crashing heavily in Adelaide, it's a relief not to have been involved in anything major today. It also shows that if you keep your head on the job, things can fall your way.
If not for our disappointing showing in a very wet qualifying session, I'm sure we could have been even further up. The result is a great boost for us, and although I'll have to pre-qualify at the next round at Eastern Creek in Sydney, I'm sure we can challenge for race wins."
STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) – 9th
"I would have liked to been further up the field, but I was glad just to stay out of trouble with so many collisions on the track. Despite all the drama around us I still managed to get some points, which is the main thing, and it was great to see the Rat up on the podium."
DAVID BESNARD (Caltex Havoline Race Team) – 11th
"The first race was certainly a lot of hard work, but we got there in the end. It was certainly pleasing to get some strong points in the first race, but the second race was totally confusing. I dispute that I broke any rule during the safety car period, but the officials have made the decision and we have to live with that.
Overall I think we will take an enormous lot of positives out of this weekend and use them to our advantage at Eastern Creek in a couple of weeks time."
NEIL CROMPTON (00 Motorsport) – 16th
“It’s been a pretty tough weekend, not only for me, but also for my teammates. We definitely made progress from yesterday, sufficient to deliver a tidy little bundle of points. It’s not a spectacular result, but we’ll take every point we can get.”
CRAIG LOWNDES (00 Motorsport) – 22nd
“We made some changes to the Falcon overnight which really helped as far as the handling of the car was concerned, but there was just nothing we could have done to avoid Wilson during this afternoon’s second race.
We were running as high as fourth thanks to a fantastic pit stop by the team, so who knows where we would’ve ended up if we’d had a trouble-free run to the finish line.”
STEVE ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) – 23rd
"Had we qualified higher in the field for a better grid position, things could have turned out better, but we have to accept that our qualifying session held us back in both races today.
Our main concern now is Canberra, it's the next big race and we have to be there, and we have to be competitive...it's a matter of going back to our base and re-grouping.”
GREG MURPHY (Kmart Racing Team) – 24th
“It’s hard to be anything but disappointed with what has happened. I got a great start in the first race and Jason (Bargwanna) continued to move over on me...you never want to see an accident like that, but it was not my fault.
We salvaged some points in the second race, but losing the points from the first race and starting from the rear has hurt us bad."
RODNEY FORBES (00 Motorsport) – 31st
“The positive out of all this though is that I don’t have to pre-qualify for round three now, so we’ll head back to the workshop to prepare ourselves for what will hopefully be a better round for us at Eastern Creek.”
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