R7 QUAL - Ford stars plan first-corner blitz on HRT
27/7/2002 18:51 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Ford white knight Marcos Ambrose’s hopes of breaking Holden’s stranglehold on V8 Supercar racing received a boost today, qualifying on pole for the seventh round at Sydney’s Oran Park Raceway.
The Stone Brothers Racing protégé overpowered Holden’s ‘Evil Empire’ to win an intense and surprising qualifying shootout.
Championship fugitive Mark Skaife, winner of five of the six rounds contested this season, could only manage the fourth fastest time. Teammate Jason Bright faired better to take second, though was frustrated to miss pole by the barest of margins, just two-tenths today, for the fourth event in a row.
"We've had no problems today,” Ambrose said after clocking a slick one-minute 8.81sec flier in the one-lap dash.
“The car's been great out of the box and I know that our race pace is very good so I'm confident of doing the job tomorrow.
"The big thing tomorrow is to get to the first corner first, you can't afford to be left to follow those red cars [the Holden Racing Team Commodores].”
The Ford brigade is desperate to end Holden’s phenomenal winning streak, which extends back ten months to round nine last year.
Ambrose has an ally in Craig Lowndes, who split the HRT pair with the third quickest time, jumping from ninth in provisional qualifying.
"Our race pace has been excellent,” Lowndes said, “so we'll aim to get a good start and be amongst the leaders from [the] beginning.”
Victorian Cameron McConville carried Sydney’s hopes aboard the local Lansvale Racing Team Commodore, and impressively used the test track advantage to secure a spot on the third row.
McConville was “absolutely wrapt” with the performance after struggling in qualifying trim at previous rounds.
Team Kiwi Racing’s Jason Richards was the other standout. The 26-year-old made his shootout debut this afternoon, and while he couldn’t improve from tenth it was still the fledgling Auckland-based team’s best qualifying performance.
Rapid rookie Max Wilson claimed provisional pole after another exciting qualifying performance, but the Brazilian fell to ninth in the shootout.
Glenn Seton thanked god for his redeeming performance today. The struggling veteran qualified a respectable seventh, sharing the fourth row with Castrol racer and new father, Russell Ingall.
Dick Johnson Racing’s Steven Johnson, 11th, was bumped from the shootout late in the session, while teammate Paul Radisich finished a worrying 27th. After a team restructure and extensive testing before this weekend, a frustrated Dick Johnson expected better.
Kmart Racing expected better, too, after championship front-runners Todd Kelly and Greg Murphy finished 14th and 16th respectively.
Drivers face two gruelling 150km races tomorrow. And around Oran Park’s tricky 2.7km layout, a balanced car and precise set-up is crucial.
Qualifying results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?28/07/2002.ORAN.Q11
Top ten shootout results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?28/07/2002.ORAN.Q12
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