Sydney Telstra 500

[Rob]

Behind the scenes: Sydney Telstra 500
Friday 04/12/2009 10:30

Author: Briar Gunther | Source: BigPond Sport - copyright


Skaife tests Sydney circuit
Skaifey given first lap honour

Five-time Bathurst champ Mark Skaife was given the huge honour this morning (Friday) of being the very first person to drive a V8 Supercar at full speed on the new Sydney Telstra 500 track at Sydney Olympic Park.

Borrowing Jason Richards’ Team BOC Commodore, Skaifey was bright eyed and bushy tailed to take to the track just before 8am.

Skaife, who is now a V8 Supercars Australia Board member, has been the architect in the design of the track in conjunction with company IEDM and has worked tirelessly to ensure it will provide the best racing possible.

New South Wales Treasurer and State Development Minister, Eric Roozendaal, will officially open the track minutes before the V8 Supercars starts Friday practice.

Practice starts today at 12.35pm local time.

FPR sails Sydney Harbour

Ford Performance Racing drivers Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards have decided to stick to their day jobs after taking part in a sailing challenge on Tuesday.

In the lead-up to the Sydney Telstra 500, each headed up a team of customers from FPR’s sponsors Orrcon Steel and Castrol, sailng with professional crew members from the Kookaburra Group in a pair of Volvo 60 Ocean Racing yachts.

“When you watch the sailing races on the TV it all looks pretty cruisy; however, anyone who has done any form of sailing knows that this is far from the truth,” Winterbottom, who grew up in the Sydney suburb of Doonside, said.

“When you’re putting the spinnakers up it’s all systems go. As a team, the Orrcon Steel guys really dug in and used the day as a team building exercise.

“It was a great experience, but I can assure you I have no intentions of changing professions from a racing car driver to a yachtsman!”

Boxing versus V8s

Following his victory in the world title fight, boxer Danny Green is expected to attend the Sydney Telstra 500 and might even hop into a V8 Supercar.

Green is a V8 Supercar fan and drivers Will Davison, Jamie Whincup and Mark McNally all attended his fight on Wednesday night, where he beat Roy Jones Jr in less than two minutes.

The boxer has a Ford GT and a 1974 XB and is set to get a hot lap in a Ford Performance Racing car later today (Friday) at the Sydney Telstra 500.

Both Green and McNally are from Western Australia and are both sponsored by specialist mining contractors NRW.

“He’s such a down to earth, humble bloke who has taken the time to sit with me and talk about his life experiences, what it's taken for him to get to the top, the setbacks, the highs and the lows,” McNally said.

“Obviously Roy Jones Jr is one of the best boxers that the world has even seen, but you could tell that Danny at that weight class has just awesome power. So I wasn’t surprised that he knocked him out; I was just surprised at how quick it was.”

TeamVodafone goes pink

TeamVodafone has traded its rocket red paint job for McGrath Foundation pink at the Sydney Telstra 500 this weekend.

Its sponsor Norton from Symantec is also supporting the charity which places McGrath Breast Care Nurses across Australia as well as educating young women to be breast aware.

Thanks to the Norton customers in Australia, Norton is donating $140,000 to the McGrath Foundation.

Further funds will be raised for the McGrath Foundation when a panel from each of the racecars will be auctioned on eBay following the Sydney Telstra 500.

While their new livery is sure to create some hype, every position and point will be crucial as Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes attempt to defend both drivers’ and teams’ championships at this weekend’s season-ending Sydney Telstra 500.

[Rob]

Sydney street track officially opened
Friday 04/12/2009 13:00

Author: Briar Gunther | Source: BigPond Sport - copyright


Eric Roozendaal and Tony Cochrane
New South Wales Treasurer and State Development Minister, Eric Roozendaal, officially opened the Sydney Telstra 500 today (Friday).

Moments before the V8 Supercars began Part A of practice, Roozendaal declared the event officially open and cut a chequered-flag patterned ribbon.

“It’s my first time out here at the track; it looks fantastic; there’s a real buzz and being a bit of a motor racing enthusiast myself I’m feeling the vibe,” he told BigPond Sport.

“I think we’re going to have a terrific weekend here.

“I’m a bit of a Ford man so I’d like to see a Ford come over the line first, but whoever wins I’m happy, just as long as it’s a good event for Sydney and really puts Sydney back on the map.”

He said a leadership change in the New South Wales Government last night, where Kristina Keneally became the state’s first female Premier, had absolutely no impact on the Government’s commitment to the Sydney street race.

“The Government is committed to a five-year partnership with V8 Supercars,” Roozendaal said.

“We think we can grow this event in a partnership to become the number one sporting event.”

V8 Supercars Executive Chairman, Tony Cochrane, who joined Roozendaal for the official opening, told BigPond Sport that he “couldn’t be happier”.

“It’s awesome,” he said.

“As the Treasurer just said, it’s a wonderful partnership.

“The New South Wales Government have really turned themselves into a can-do government.

“They want to get big events in New South Wales, big events in Sydney, and we’re certainly going to do our part in that big picture.”

Early indications suggest many Sydney-siders will turn out for the Sydney Telstra 500, with a healthy crowd already in attendance on Friday morning.

“There are a lot of people here for practice A so roll on Saturday and Sunday, it’s going to be enormous,” Cochrane said.

[Rob]

Tander draws first blood
Friday 04/12/2009 17:30

Author: Allan Edwards | Source: BigPond Sport - copyright


Tander finishes practice fastest
Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander has declared that helping his team secure the teams’ championship as his main goal this weekend at the Sydney Telstra 500.

After setting the fastest time in today’s (Friday) practice for the inaugural race around the 2000 Olympic Games venue, Tander said he has three items on his wish list.

“My first priority is to try to win the teams’ championship; the second priority is to try to be the first ever winner of the Sydney Telstra 500 and the third priority is to try to take second in the championship,” Tander said.

He completed a blistering lap of 1min 30.1032 seconds in the final moments of Practice C to finish on top of the timesheets ahead of Valvoline Cummins Commodore driver Lee Holdsworth (1:30.1993) and SP Tools Falcon pilot Shane van Gisbergen (1:30.2327).

Tander is currently third in the drivers’ championship only 128 points behind his teammate Will Davison with 300 points up for grabs this weekend.

The Toll HRT team is just one point behind TeamVodafone in the teams’ title heading into the final event of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Tander described the new Sydney street circuit as “a great challenge” and countered comments by some that the racing could be processional on the tight street circuit.

“I think it will provide some great racing. There are a number of places where you can overtake… the track is going to be tough on brakes, they will go away as the race goes on and drivers will make mistakes so there will be some passing,” he said.

Holdsworth had a different opinion, describing the circuit as “the scariest from a driver’s point of view”.

“I walked around the track yesterday and I also went around in the hire car doing 40 kays and if it looks narrow at 40 kays then you know it is going to close up doing 200 kays,” he said.

“It feels like it’s one lane out there… there is a lot of blind corners. It’s very bumpy and narrow. You are on edge the whole time and you can’t afford to make a mistake.”

He said there are only a few places on the track where a pass could be made safely.

“You can pass in turn one and there is probably another one or two spots on the track where you can pull off a pass, at all of the other corners you would have to be very desperate. There may be a little bit of follow the leader out there,” he commented.

The three practice sessions were interrupted by a series of red flags. Some were to remove stricken cars with Jack Perkins, Craig Lowndes and Todd Kelly all finding the wall at various stages, and other delays were for hasty repairs to the track, which was badly breaking up in some corners.

TeamVodafone pair, champion elect Jamie Whincup and Lowndes, found themselves in the uncustomary positions of 17th and 18th respectively at the end of practice.

Qualifying for the Sydney Telstra 500 is scheduled to start at 10am tomorrow (Saturday).

Practice Top 10

Garth Tander Commodore 1:30.1032
Lee Holdsworth Commodore 1:30.1993
Shane van Gisbergen Falcon 1:30.2327
Will Davison Commodore 1:30.3944
David Reynolds Commodore 1:30.4106
Greg Murphy Commodore 1:30.4202
James Courtney Falcon 1:30.4392
Cameron McConville Commodore 1:30.4776
Mark Winterbottom Falcon 1:30.6125
Paul Dumbrell Commodore 1:30.7448

[Rob]

Tander fastest after first laps of Sydney circuit
Friday 04/12/2009

Source: V8 Latest News

The Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and Will Davison have had their first taste of the new Sydney 500 street circuit in the opening practice sessions of the weekend, with Garth Tander finishing the day as the fastest man on track.

The #2 Toll HRT pilot was determined to make a strong start to his weekend and he succeeded, improving through all three sessions to eventually finish on top. It took a while for the rubber to build up on the circuit and Tander found himself back in 23rd position at the end of Practice B.

He made a late charge in the final leg of practice and successfully put together a clean lap to claim the top prize of the day.

Tander’s team-mate Will Davison also made a positive start to his Sydney 500 campaign setting the fourth fastest time.

Davison used the sessions to trial a number of different setup combinations on the #22 Commodore and is confident the team is headed in the right direction. He spent time at the top of the order in the first 50 minutes and was sixth fastest before the break.

He improved significantly in Practice C and made a late dash to set the fourth fastest time when the chequered flag dropped.

A huge amount of preparation work behind the scenes went into building simulation data for this weekend’s event and with no previous data to work with, the engineering team together with the drivers, worked tirelessly to ensure the cars were quick from the beginning.

Tander came within 0.2 seconds of the simulated lap time and proved that the dedication and work that was put in before the event has helped both Tander and Davison progress through the day.

The top three were Tander, Lee Holdsworth and Shane Van Gisbergen. A total of 51,193 fans turned out to see the first day of action at Sydney’s Olympic Park.

Qualifying, the top ten shootout and the first 250km race are on tomorrow.

Garth Tander - #2 Toll Holden Racing Team VE Commodore (Practice: 1st, 1:30.1032)

“Quickest today is an encouraging start for the Toll Holden Racing Team. Will [Davison] and my cars were strong, as were all the Walkinshaw Commodores, and everyone’s worked well together and we’ve got a good reward. But there’s still work to do tonight, we need to improve, as everyone else will, as the pace will be quicker tomorrow.

“The track is challenging and it’s going to be hard work doing 250km around here on Saturday, then again Sunday. Managing the tyres will be the key, you have to be careful you don’t use all your eggs tomorrow and have nothing left for Sunday.

“The track is good – it’s got a mix of Hamilton, the Gold Coast and Adelaide, while there’s tight, narrow sections and then areas like turn 1 where it opens up and is very wide. There will be good passing opportunities there and around the back in the last sector.

“Our engineers came up with a projected lap time of 1 minute 30.4 seconds, then when we arrived Thursday and had a good look at all the kerbs and measured a few bumps. We re-did our simulations and came up with a 1m 30.3s and we’ve run a 1m 30.1s lap, so like Townsville our engineers have again done a very good job and that’s given us a great start to the weekend.”

Will Davison - #22 Toll Holden Racing Team VE Commodore (Practice: 4th, 1:30.3944)

“It was a pretty good day, we were quick throughout the whole session which is fairly important on a new track. It is a challenging circuit and really hard work on the drivers - the cars are taking a bit of a pounding but it is also a lot of fun at the same time. I think the circuit is going to catch out a couple of people over the course of the weekend. We played around with lots of different setups and naturally, as a new track it was getting ‘grippier’ as the day went on. We are reasonably happy with the direction we are going in with the #22 Toll HRT Commodore and no-one ran new tyres today so I am sure we can improve on lap times tomorrow.”

[Rob]

Kellys aim to end first year on a high
Friday 04/12/2009

Source: V8 Latest News

Jack Daniel’s Racing team-mates Todd and Rick Kelly are looking to end the first season of their V8 Supercar team on a high at the Sydney Telstra 500 on the streets of Homebush this weekend.

The Bathurst-winning brothers will hit Sydney for the 14th and final event of this year’s V8 Supercar Championship Series following a year of hard work and encouraging progress for Kelly Racing, which opened its doors in March.

Todd Kelly will drive the team’s spare car in Sydney, following a heavy crash at the Bigpond 300 in Perth two weeks ago.

Kelly’s #7 Jack Daniel’s Racing Holden Commodore sustained extensive left-hand-side damage and as a result the 30-year-old will now drive Chassis PE045, with the Jack Daniel’s Racing crew working around the clock to prepare the car.

PE045 made its debut at the start of the 2007 season for Perkins Motorsport, also in the colours of Jack Daniel’s. Much of the running gear from Kelly’s regular chassis, PE049, has been transferred to the spare car.

Chassis PE045 was last driven by Jack Perkins at the Nikon SuperGP on the Gold Coast and has raced at three events this season (L&H 500 at Phillip Island, Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama and Nikon SuperGP on the Gold Coast).

Todd Kelly is confident that the older chassis will still give him the speed needed to challenge for a podium finish in Sydney as the team looks to continue a late-season streak of strong form.

Jack Daniel’s Racing, having scored three podiums from the last four races, is keen to post strong results at the new Sydney event, with the Australian head office of Brown-Forman, owners of the Jack Daniel’s brand, situated on Parkview Drive in Homebush, less than 500 metres from the new street circuit.

Both Todd and Rick Kelly have a history of strong form in season finales, with three event wins between the pair at the final event

[coysht]

The first race in Sydney was great - watched the highlights on Channel 5.....only to find out that they had decided to only show race 1 and ditch race 2 all together!

Anyone know of anywhere on the net that you can watch highlights or even whole races?

[Rob]

Try V8 supercars.com or if you have sky tv, motors will be showing the race again at some point over week. I''ll check listings for ya tomorrow and see. It was great event, shame Ford won it again, im a Holden and Garth Tander fan

[coysht]

Try V8 supercars.com or if you have sky tv, motors will be showing the race again at some point over week. I''ll check listings for ya tomorrow and see. It was great event, shame Ford won it again, im a Holden and Garth Tander fan

Not got Sky unfortunately (well fortunately for my bank ballance and social life...) but did find someone in NZ who puts highlights packages on youtube....so I'll be keeping an eye on them next season.

I'm a Ford man myself, so will have to see who becomes the lead Ford team/driver now that Tripple8 have gone all Holden!

[Rob]

Disappointing end to 2009 season for TeamVodafone
Sunday 06/12/2009

Source: V8 Latest News

TeamVodafone has endured a tough final race of the 2009 V8 Supercar season with a series of on track incidents in the final leg of the Sydney 500 ending their hopes of consecutive Team Championship titles.

It was a very different day for Champion Jamie Whincup who finished fifth yesterday and clinched his second consecutive driver's title.

The 26 year old started the race from 26th on the grid after a broken spark plug left him with a misfiring engine throughout the morning qualifying session. Whincup then worked hard to move through the order but a clash with the tyre barriers after his second pitstop put him four laps down and he eventually finished the race 14th.

“It certainly wasn’t the finish I wanted,” Whincup said. “That incident was totally my fault, I was on cold tyres and to be honest my mind wandered off.

“I am just one part of a fantastic team who have worked so hard this year. They deserved a better result today.

“We will now turn our focus to the exciting challenges ahead with the team switching to Holden Commodores in 2010,” he added.

Teammate Craig Lowndes also endured a tumultuous day on track. Lowndes was handed a drive through penalty for a pitlane infringement and then became the victim of an on track clash. Despite their best efforts the team were unable to get Lowndes back out on track.

“We were looking good for at least third,” Lowndes explained. “It was just one of those days where everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

“The team worked incredibly hard this weekend and I was disappointed that Jamie and I couldn’t give them the Teams Championship title."

Lowndes finished the year fourth in the championship with 2592 points.

[Rob]

http://i50.tinypic.com/2mh76yu.jpg

Yeah that will be interesting to see who becomes Fords number team, Jim Beam racing??? tha=ey been showing good recently.

[Aussie]

Go team vodafone ford. Now holdern