v8 supercar latest

[Rob]

Murph the one to bet on www.v8supercars.com.au

1:58 PM Wed 14 April, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport

Castrol Edge Racing driver Greg Murphy might be the surprise packet at this weekend’s ITM400 Hamilton and fans could end up the winners too.

The Kiwi has not had success on home soil since his win at Pukekohe in 2005, largely due to uncompetitive machinery.

But his move to Paul Morris Motorsports (PMM) has seen him recently debut a Triple Eight-designed, PMM-built Commodore and he was one of the fastest drivers in qualifying at the non-Championship event at Albert Park last month.

The new Castrol Commodore offers Murph the very real possibility of winning at the ITM400 Hamilton but betting agencies have seemingly overlooked this and at V8bet.com.au he is currently a massive outsider to win the first race at $126.

“This is the most competitive package I’ve had in years by a long stretch and I’m very, very happy,” he said.

“The past four years we’ve had question marks on the cars and I never managed to get them to where they needed to be to get to the front of the field.

“With my new Castrol EDGE Commodore and the support of the PMM team I don’t have to worry about the equipment, which means the focus is on me just doing my job properly and completing the task.

“I can’t blame the vehicle for not being up to scratch and I feel that I’m in a pretty good position so I’m very comfortable and relaxed about this weekend.”

Murphy said he was definitely aiming for a win this weekend but noted fellow Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen, who is currently at $13 to win the Saturday race, will pose one of the main threats to derail his quest.

“It will be hard to do, but it’s realistic,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy with the competition that we’ve got.

“There’s some guys like (Garth) Tander and van Gisbergen in very good form at the moment, and they’ll be confident, but that’s what we’ve got our sights set on.

“I just can’t make any mistakes.”

Murph found it hard to believe his last win in New Zealand was five years ago.

“2005 is a bloody long time ago; it’s hard to comprehend that big a gap between winning races,” he said.

“Winning in front of a New Zealand crowd was one of the best things that ever happened to me in my V8 Supercar career and I couldn’t hope for any more than that (again), it would just be unbelievable.”

[Rob]

The Giz re-signs with SBR

V8 driver Shane van Gisbergen and sponsor SP Tools have re-signed with Stone Brothers Racing.

By Briar Gunther www.v8supercars.com.au

10:00 AM Fri 16 April, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport

Shane van Gisbergen has put rumours of his V8 Supercar future to rest with the announcement he has re-signed with Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) until the end of 2012.

The announcement was made at the ITM400 Hamilton in New Zealand this morning (Friday), along with the news that SP Tools will continue as the naming-rights sponsor on van Gisbergen’s #9 Falcon.

Van Gisbergen said there was no reason to switch teams when he was on such a role at SBR.

“It’s great to know that I’ll be spending the next two years, at least, of my career with SBR in the V8s,” he said.

“(Team co-owners) Ross and Jimmy gave me my first start in the V8 Supercars way back in 2007 and I am forever grateful for that; it was a great opportunity for me.

“We’ve got such great chemistry in the team. There’s no reason to change; we’re happy where we are (and) the results are starting to come.”

Ross Stone acknowledged that the team still had a “little bit more to go” to ensure van Gisbergen stayed at the forefront.

“But we always knew this young bloke was capable and it’s an exciting time for Shane and the team as we know that moving forward we’ve got another solid two years while we try and achieve some championships,” he said.

“Our relationship with Shane is a unique one and we’ve worked with him from his debut in V8 Supercars racing through to his first podium this year in the Middle East.

“Although he appears reserved at times he is an exciting driver to watch and displays some of the best car control I’ve seen over the years, particularly in the wet.”

Stone sympathised with V8 drivers who were only given one year contracts to prove their worth.

“Because you really do need three years, I believe, to start putting it all together,” he said.

The 20-year-old made his V8 Supercar debut in 2007, driving an SBR-prepared Team Kiwi Racing Falcon and this year is his third season with SBR.

Stone said negotiations with Ford to renew its sponsorship at the end of the year would not start until July but he was confident the team would continue to receive factory backing and van Gisbergen had the same viewpoint.

“We’ve got the results this year and if we had any concerns we wouldn’t have signed up (for another two years),” the Giz said.

“We have full confidence in the team and Ross and Jimmy and Chris (Wilson), the commercial manager, we think it will be alright.”

Meanwhile, SBR has recently launched the Stone Brothers Racing Supporting Club.

The three levels of membership are kids, adults and platinum, which includes a ride in an SBR Falcon.

For details visit www.stonebrothersracing.com.au

[Rob]

Tander crashes Kiwi party

Toll Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander at this year's ITM400 Hamilton.

By Briar Gunther www.v8supercars.com.au

3:58 PM Fri 16 April, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport

Toll Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander crashed the Kiwi party at the ITM400 Hamilton today (Friday).

Tander posted the quickest time of 1:23. 2091 and now holds the practice record lap which his teammate Will Davison set last year (1:23.5620).

While V8 Supercar drivers who originate from New Zealand dominated the first three practice sessions, it was Melbourne-based Tander and Queenslander Jamie Whincup from TeamVodafone who topped the time sheets at the end of the day.

Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) driver Shane van Gisbergen was third-quickest in the fourth practice session and the fastest Kiwi.

Tander said the team spent the third practice session, the first that drivers in the top 50 per cent of the Championship are allowed to take part in, working on what changes made on his #2 Commodore at the Australian Grand Prix last month would work at the Hamilton street circuit.

“So we spent the majority of the first session doing that and then the second session we got into actually tuning the car for the requirements around here and our car responded to the changes very well,” he said.

“The car was better than last year straight out of the box so we went about just tuning it on the run.

“I think there’s still a few weaknesses in the car we need to improve but we put our fresh set of tyres on at the end there, the car responded very nicely and here we are.

Tander was surprised at the amount of grip the track had.

“It’s got more grip than last year which is strange given that a lot of the tarmac has weathered for another year,” he noted.

“(But) I think we’ll need to go faster tomorrow to stay at P1.”

Whincup said his #1 Commodore performed well today.

“We weren’t quite as quick when we put our second set of tyres on but all in all we’re in good shape for tomorrow,” he said.

“Everyone having brand new practice tyres is great because you all go out of the pits and you know where everyone’s at so we all run on the same tyres for pretty much the whole two sessions and then most of us all put green ones on for the end and do our quickest times.

“That was nice; you know exactly where you’re at the whole run.”

Van Gisbergen, who announced today with SBR team owners Jimmy and Ross Stone that he will continue driving for the team until the end of 2012, said his team was focused on the job at hand.

“Everyone’s pretty pumped and everyone’s working well together so we’ll just keep doing that and we’ll be fine,” he said.

“It reiterates why we have chosen to stay with SBR and it’s a good feeling; everything’s working well.”

[Rob]

Coulthard’s comeback

Bundaberg Red Racing's Fabian Coulthard is on a role at the ITM400 Hamilton.

By Briar Gunther www.v8supercars.com.au

4:39 PM Fri 16 April, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport

All the pieces of the puzzle have just about fallen into place for Fabian Coulthard just in time for his ‘home’ event.

Coulthard has spent the earlier part of the year adjusting to his new Bundaberg Red Racing Commodore after driving a Falcon for the last two years of his V8 career.

And it helps that the ITM400 Hamilton, where he has performed well at in the past, is the home event for the native Kiwi.

“It’s nice when you come to a track you like,” he said.

“We’ve had a good track record here.

“We’ve been the first Kiwi (to finish) and left here both times inside the top five so it’s been a solid weekend in the past and we’re hoping to continue with another solid weekend.”

Following on from his good form in the past, Coulthard finished in the top six in all four practice sessions at the ITM400 Hamilton today (Friday).

“So far, so good,” he remarked.

“I’d love to win (a race), but I wouldn’t mind standing on a (podium) step, any of the three would be fine.

“We now have to back up what we have done today and continue it tomorrow.”

Acknowledging the transition to the Commodore was harder than anticipated, Coulthard said the team made great inroads at the non-Championship event at the Australian Grand Prix.

“The biggest thing is over the years you build up continuity with your team and going from Ford to Holden, I’ve got no continuity,” he explained.

“I’ve got a new car, a new team, a new engineer all to learn with and that takes time.”

“Our progress today is a build up of the season so far and I think myself and Rob (Starr, #24 Engineer) and Dilan (Talabani, #24 Data Engineer) are starting to build up a bit of continuity and that is starting to show in our speed.

“After our performance today there shouldn’t be any reason we aren’t in the top 10 in qualifying tomorrow.”

[Rob]

Dixon heads home

Two-time IndyCar champ Scott Dixon will drive for Jack Daniel's Racing in the Armor All Gold Coast 600.

8:04 PM Thu 22 April, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport

New Zealand motorsport star Scott Dixon, who has two IndyCar championships to his name, will join Jack Daniel’s Racing at the V8 Supercars’ Gold Coast event in October.

Dixon was one of 18 international drivers announced at tonight’s launch of the revamped SuperCarnivale event, with the V8 Supercars Championship component known as the Armor All Gold Coast 600.

With one international steerer sharing driving duties for each V8 Supercar team, the two 300km races have been billed the third endurance event alongside Bathurst and Phillip Island.

Dixon, one of the starts of the IZOD IndyCar Series in North America, will suit up for the Jack Daniel’s team while fellow IndyCar driver Alex Tagliani from Canada will race in one of the other two Kelly Racing cars.

The Brisbane-born Kiwi raced three times on the Gold Coast when it was a round in IndyCars, with a best result of second place in 2008 aboard his #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda/Dallara/Firestone IndyCar.

Dixon can’t wait to get back to the Gold Coast, an event he rates as a personal favourite as well as his unofficial home race.

“The fact that you have the party atmosphere, you have a big race going on, it's by the beach, you couldn't ask for anything more and it's definitely a standout,” the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner said.

“I’d say 90 per cent, or even 110 per cent, of the drivers, always loved that race. It was the best race that we went to and everybody looked forward to it.

“Everybody would fly in a week before the race. A lot of the races here in America you fly in the Thursday night before it starts on Friday.

“It’s a shame that we’re not back there in the IndyCar but to obviously go back in a V8 is going to be even cooler.

“I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

Todd Kelly and Dixon were rivals in the 1998 Australian Formula Holden Championship as teenagers, with Dixon edging out Kelly for the title before moving to the United States to pursue a career in North American open-wheel racing.

“We were pretty fierce competitors back in those days so it will be interesting to get him back in our team in one of our Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodores at Surfers,” Kelly said.

“Since we were rivals Scott has gone on to win championships (2003 and 2008) and an Indy 500, and it doesn’t get any bigger than that, so we are certainly lucky to get guys of his calibre in our category and it’s great to have him as a part of Jack Daniel’s Racing.”

Todd Kelly is high in his praise of the new format for the Armor All Gold Coast 600.

“This is probably the most exciting thing in V8 Supercars since I’ve been racing, which is a long time,” said Todd Kelly.

“To have this many names, basically some of the elite of motorsport (from) around the world, all lobbing onto the Gold Coast this October to double the size of our field for an endurance event, is massive.

“It will be extremely interesting to see how some of these big names go compared to us regular V8 Supercar drivers.”

At the launch held tonight, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh heaped praise on the V8 Supercar category.

“Because of the world-wide reputation of V8 Supercars these international drivers want to come to the Gold Coast to co-drive with our home-grown Champions such as Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup and Garth Tander – drivers who can mix it with the best in the world,” she said.

The full list of the 18 international drivers for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 and the V8 Supercar teams they will be racing with are listed below:

Sebastien Bourdais (France) Johnson Racing

David Brabham (Australia) Irwin Racing

Ryan Briscoe (Australia) Toll Holden Racing Team

Scott Dixon (New Zealand) Jack Daniel’s Racing

Dario Franchitti (Scotland) Jim Beam Racing

Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany) Wilson Security Racing

Fabrizio Giovanardi (Italy) Brad Jones Racing

Patrick Long (USA) Fujitsu Racing GRM

Alain Menu (Switzerland) Brad Jones Racing

Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) Centaur Racing

Gianni Morbidelli (Italy) Triple F Racing

Yvan Muller (France) Paul Morris Motorsports

Will Power (Australia) Ford Performance Racing

Andy Priaulx (UK) TeamVodafone

Scott Pruett (USA) Lucas Dumbrell Racing

Mika Salo (Finland) Bundaberg Red Racing Team

Alex Tagliani (Canada) Kelly Racing

Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) The Bottle-O Racing Team

[Rob]

Volcano holds up Villeneuve

Former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve will team up with Paul Dumbrell, pictured at Adelaide, for the Armor All Gold Coast 600.

12:55 PM Fri 23 April, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport www.v8supercars.com.au

Jacques Villeneuve, who will drive with Paul Dumbrell in the #55 Bottle-O Falcon at the Armor All Gold Coast 600, was stopped from attending the event’s launch last night thanks to the erupting Icelandic volcano.

The eruption of volcano Eyjafjallajokull and the ensuing ash plumes has disrupted international travel for the last week for thousands of people, including the former Formula One and Indycar driver.

“Unfortunately the volcano eruption in Iceland caused some issues with me getting back down to Australia for the launch this week, but hopefully I can get down for an advance visit in coming months,” he said.

The launch for the October 22-24 SuperCarnivale included the release of the official line up of 18 international drivers who will drive in the Armor All Gold Coast 600, the V8 Supercar component of the event.

Stuck in Europe, Villeneuve said he had some “tremendous” memories of the Gold Coast from his IndyCar days.

“It has been a while since I have been to the Gold Coast, but the event has always rated highly in the world of motor sports,” he said.

“Surfers Paradise is a beautiful part of the world and I am really looking forward to getting back down there.

“The V8 Supercars are a fantastic series with a terrific following and I cannot wait for the chance to drive one in anger.

“I think the international driver concept for the Gold Coast 600 is already creating a great amount of interest and that will only get stronger as we get closer to the event.”

Will Power will take part in the Armor All Gold Coast 600 for the other side of the Ford Performance Racing garage.

Although he was born in Australia, Power has a massive presence in Northern America through his IndyCar driving.

Power won the first two IndyCar races of the 2010 season at Brazil and St. Petersburg and is currently first in the championship point standings.

Speaking from the US, the Team Penske driver said he was looking forward to making a return to the streets of the Gold Coast.

“To say that I have unfinished business at Surfers Paradise is an understatement,” the Toowoomba local said.

“I’ve had three poles there and no wins; it has left a bit of a hole in my CV so I’m looking forward to getting down there and seeing what I can do,” said.

“The Gold Coast race is the favourite event that I’ve been to in my whole career and I’m really looking forward to racing a V8 Supercar down there and mixing it up with the V8 regulars.”

FPR Team Principal, Tim Edwards, said it was a difficult task signing “someone of any decent talent” who didn’t already have commitments elsewhere.

“So to be able to snag Will is a real coup for FPR,” he said.

“Not many of the internationals have had the exposure to V8 Supercars that Will has, so obviously he’ll have a slight advantage as well as helping us out when it comes to setting up the car for the event.”

[Rob]

'Mucking' with Bathurst tradition
11:16 AM Tue 27 April, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport www.v8supercars.com.au

Team BOC driver Jason Richards has questioned a move to keep full-time drivers in their own cars for this year's enduros, saying it is "mucking around" with Bathurst tradition.

V8 Supercars Australia introduced a rule for this year's endurance races at Phillip Island and Bathurst where full-time drivers must drive in their own car.

This is to even out the field, countering concerns that only a handful of cars with two star full-time drivers can win the events an in particular the iconic Bathurst 1000.

But Richards, who with Cam McConville finished runner-up to the Toll Holden Racing Team at last year's Bathurst, is against the change.

"In terms of the format change, we're mucking around with tradition here," he said.

"At no point in the history of Bathurst were you prevented from picking your teammate as co-driver.

"You can't tell me that it hasn't been exciting racing in the past and I don't think this new format is going to add much to it."

Richards teams up with Andrew Jones for this year's L&H 500 and the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 races and said seat time for co-drivers in the lead up to the races will be crucial.

"With this new format, seat time is the most important thing in a co-driver because the reality is there are only a couple of guys around with much main-game experience," he said.

"I'm very fortunate that Andy's one of them. He's driven my car already this year and raced for BJR not so long ago, so he's fully up to speed."

Richards said he had finished second at Bathurst too many times and nothing less than a win would satisfy him.

"I've done everything I needed to do except actually cross the line first and that's my only aim this year," the Team BOC driver said.

"Bathurst is by far my most successful race consistently; it's the team's most successful race consistently and I've got the added advantage of having Andy as a team mate, who has that much more experience than the rest of the endurance drivers."

Jones noted that BJR tended to go well at the enduros.

"But the thing is they don't do anything differently for those events; it just seems that the longer the race, the more factors come into it and we usually go quite well," he said.

"I don't think this year will be any different.

"I definitely think I'm in a terrific position; I've got a real chance of winning the race."

BJR has also locked in Matt Halliday as Jason Bright's co-driver in the #14 Trading Post Racing Commodore.

Halliday already has a history with Bright, driving for Bright's Britek team at the 2008 enduros.

"There's no one I would prefer to be with actually," the Porsche Supercup competitor said.

"I have a really busy schedule of racing all over the world this year but the enduros are two of the best races in the world and the interest in them from drivers is very high.

"I had a date clash last year and it was quite painful missing out so it was high on my list of priorities to sign a good deal this year."

Halliday observed that BJR was a tight-knit team.

"As far as Bathurst is concerned, BJR has had a strong run there for the last few years and we're going there to try to win it," he said.

Bright says this is one of his best chances in recent times to win his second Bathurst 1000.

"This year is a bit different because of the new rules preventing teammates driving together," he said.

"Now drivers outside the championship don't have to compete against regular drivers for a seat, which makes the choice far less difficult as far as I'm concerned because it's the same for everyone.

"Matt did a good job for us in 2008 and I thought that he did a good job at FPR. He's got some good experience in V8s in good cars and has been to Bathurst a few times. He's been quick and he didn't require a lot of laps to do it.

[Rob]

Enduro double up

The Greg Murphy Racing entry competing at last season's Supercheap Auto 1000.

11:27 AM Sat 15 May, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport www.v8supercars.com.au
On the back of its wildcard entry in the 2009 endurance races, Fujitsu Series team Greg Murphy Racing (GMR) could end up gunning for two wildcard licences this year.
GMR was one of the four wildcard entries accepted for last year’s enduros and drivers Sam Walter and Taz Douglas DNFed at Bathurst but finished 24th at Phillip Island’s L&H 500.
Team co-owner Kevin Murphy said they will definitely apply for at least one wildcard entry.
“I have suggested we wouldn’t mind looking at two but we would have to be able to do it very well before we get carried away,” he said.
“We would rather do one properly than two half-hearted because it wouldn’t be a good reflection on the team or the people but we certainly will look for one.
“We have four people currently that will put a deposit down tomorrow to be in that wildcard so that’s pleasing to know which makes me think we won’t write off a bid for two (wildcard entries).”
Murphy acknowledged that V8 Supercars Australia could reject Greg Murphy Racing’s bid for one or two wildcards.
“There’s no guarantees of course whether we get them or not but I think we went fairly well last year,” he said.
“We didn’t do anything wrong; we handled it well and I think we can prove we can do just as well or even better this year.
“Our equipment’s very good and let’s face it, two of the cars we are currently competing in (in the Fujitsu Series) should have been on the podium and could have well been on the podium if it had not been for some misadventure later in the race, not through our own doing necessarily either.
“And one of those cars of course was second the year before so we certainly have the pedigree in the cars to suggest we can do well if we have some good drivers on board so I think that will be considered and it will go in our favour to get a wildcard.”
At Winton this weekend the team is running the two Commodores which Greg Murphy and Jason Bargwanna ran in the main game last year.
“We also look after Geoff Emery’s entry in the Fujitsu Series; it runs a Greg Murphy Racing/ex-Tasman Motorsport engine and we do have two other cars in the workshop that we could use in the Championship as well,” Murphy explained.
“There’s plenty of chassis there, we just need more drivers but the car Steve Owen is racing (in the development series) was the car that Jason Bargwanna ran last year and Jason Richards the year before.
“For no particular reason that car was rolled out for the summer rebuild and car 51’s here this weekend for the first time in the Fujitsu championship in the hands of Daniel Jilesen so they’re both out there.”

[Rob]

first JBR pole

1:51 PM Sat 15 May, 2010 www.v8supercars.com.au
Source: BigPond Sport

Jim Beam Racing’s James Courtney scooped pole position for race 11 along with the lap record at Winton Motor Raceway today (Saturday).
On the soft Dunlop Sprint tyres, Courtney became the first driver ever to post a sub 1:22 lap at the country Victorian track with a time of 1:21.8739, despite a brake lock up in the second sector.
“That’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he enthused.
“I’m speechless, a little bit. The car was amazing, it was really, really good.”
Channelling the fictitious character Happy Gilmore, an ecstatic James Courtney played up to the cameras and put the Armor All Pole Position Award novelty cheque in the back of his #18 Falcon.
The pole position was also his first with the Jim Beam squad and Courtney acknowledged everyone in the team worked hard to earn it.
“The one thing we’ve been missing from our game since joining these guys is to get a pole position so it’s great to tick that box and give it to the lads and have a bit of a joke around with the cheque and throw it in the back Happy Gilmore style so it’s a bit of fun,” he said.
“It’s where we should be, it’s where we’ve always wanted to be, it’s where I’ve always tried to be and it’s great to be back at the front consistently and challenging it’s good. I’m very happy.”
Courtney recorded two pole positions for his former team Stone Brothers Racing at Adelaide in 2007 and Queensland in 2008.
Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander set the previous lap record at Winton last year with a time of 1:22.1481.
Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom was the first driver to better it in today’s Top 10 Shootout with a 1:22.1313.
Tander then reclaimed his record, posting a time of 1:22.0056 until Courtney went on to beat it.
It was an almost fairytale ending for Tander, who lines up alongside Courtney on the front row of the grid for this afternoon’s race.
Tander was in 17th when he ran off the track with about a minute to go in the 20 minute all-in qualifying session but the one flying lap he had left was good enough to get him a berth in the Top 10 Shootout.
Championship leader Jamie Whincup from TeamVodafone had a brake lock-up during his Shootout lap and he ended up setting the sixth fastest time.

Race 11 is scheduled to start at 3.35pm AEST.

[Rob]

first JBR pole

1:51 PM Sat 15 May, 2010 www.v8supercars.com.au
Source: BigPond Sport

Jim Beam Racing’s James Courtney scooped pole position for race 11 along with the lap record at Winton Motor Raceway today (Saturday).
On the soft Dunlop Sprint tyres, Courtney became the first driver ever to post a sub 1:22 lap at the country Victorian track with a time of 1:21.8739, despite a brake lock up in the second sector.
“That’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he enthused.
“I’m speechless, a little bit. The car was amazing, it was really, really good.”
Channelling the fictitious character Happy Gilmore, an ecstatic James Courtney played up to the cameras and put the Armor All Pole Position Award novelty cheque in the back of his #18 Falcon.
The pole position was also his first with the Jim Beam squad and Courtney acknowledged everyone in the team worked hard to earn it.
“The one thing we’ve been missing from our game since joining these guys is to get a pole position so it’s great to tick that box and give it to the lads and have a bit of a joke around with the cheque and throw it in the back Happy Gilmore style so it’s a bit of fun,” he said.
“It’s where we should be, it’s where we’ve always wanted to be, it’s where I’ve always tried to be and it’s great to be back at the front consistently and challenging it’s good. I’m very happy.”
Courtney recorded two pole positions for his former team Stone Brothers Racing at Adelaide in 2007 and Queensland in 2008.
Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander set the previous lap record at Winton last year with a time of 1:22.1481.
Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom was the first driver to better it in today’s Top 10 Shootout with a 1:22.1313.
Tander then reclaimed his record, posting a time of 1:22.0056 until Courtney went on to beat it.
It was an almost fairytale ending for Tander, who lines up alongside Courtney on the front row of the grid for this afternoon’s race.
Tander was in 17th when he ran off the track with about a minute to go in the 20 minute all-in qualifying session but the one flying lap he had left was good enough to get him a berth in the Top 10 Shootout.
Championship leader Jamie Whincup from TeamVodafone had a brake lock-up during his Shootout lap and he ended up setting the sixth fastest time.

Race 11 is scheduled to start at 3.35pm AEST.

[Rob]

Courtney too strong on softs

Jim Beam Racing's James Courtney won race 11 of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship at Winton Motor Raceway.

6:02 PM Sat 15 May, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport

James Courtney maintained his perfect record on the Dunlop soft tyres in 2010 with victory at Winton today (Saturday), cutting Jamie Whincup's Championship lead to three points.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Jim Beam Racing (JBR) driver, who was beaten off the line by the fast starting Garth Tander, forced to muscle his way past Whincup and hold off a late race charge from Craig Lowndes.

“The car was great today; it was awesome,” Courtney said after the race.

“I didn’t get the best of starts off the line and had a lot more pace than Garth at the start and he was probably holding us up at the start quite a bit, but once we got clear we smoked on.”

Courtney jumped Tander when the latter was delayed with a slow pitstop, muscling past Whincup following the Championship leader’s stop on lap 14.

Whincup exited the pits in front of Courtney but ran wide, allowing the JBR driver to courageously dive underneath Whincup and hold the outside line.

“I pushed pretty hard coming out of the pits with Jamie; got pretty exciting, which was nice, and managed to get past and pull away,” Courtney said.

“I wasn’t pushing too hard then and we were pushing away quite nicely.”

Behind Courtney, Lowndes was storming through the field, reaping the benefits of a different pit strategy, which saw him change tyres six laps later than most of his rivals.

“Knowing we had fresher tyres on the car than everyone else, it was interesting because we had good closing speed on nearly everyone but we had to be careful and patient about where and when to pass,” he said.

Whincup limited the damage to his Championship lead with third, admitting he didn’t have the car to compete with Courtney.

“We didn’t have the car pace or the tyre life today, and we probably overachieved with the pace we had,” he said.

Behind the leading contenders chaos ensued as the Dunlop soft tyres delivered a thrilling race with battles throughout the pack enthralling fans.

Most notable was a tangle between the two Toll HRT drivers on the penultimate lap.

Courtney may have been ahead of the action but could see the evidence of the battles on track.

“I could see a bit of shenanigans and there was a lot of dirt on the track on the last few laps so I knew some crap had gone on, so it would be good to see (race footage) later on,” he said.

Courtney has now cut Whincup’s Championship lead to a mere three points and he is confident of taking top spot on Sunday.

“Bit more of the same (tomorrow),” Courtney said. “Everything is going great for me. The car is fantastic, the team is fantastic and I’m managing to keep my nose clean and doing a good job.

“Hopefully tomorrow afternoon we’ll come out in front of the Championship, which would be nice to have someone different at the top because Jamie’s been up there consistently for the last three years, so it would be nice to jump him.”

Qualifying for tomorrow's race is scheduled for 10:15am EST.

Championship Top 10

Jamie Whincup Commodore 1320

James Courtney Falcon 1317

Craig Lowndes Commodore 1107

Shane van Gisbergen Falcon 1095

Garth Tander Commodore 1026

Lee Holdsworth Commodore 981

Rick Kelly Commodore 959

Mark Winterbottom Falcon 954

Michael Caruso Commodore 924

Steven Johnson Falcon 869

[Rob]

HRT licks wounds

7:19 PM Sat 15 May, 2010

Source: BigPond Sport www.v8supercars.com.au

Toll Holden Racing Team drivers Garth Tander and Will Davison are reeling after a shocking start to the event at their home track.

Despite Tander starting from the front row and Davison in the top 10 for the Saturday race at Winton Motor Raceway, they ended up clashing on the penultimate lap while in a battle pack with Jason Bright and Jonathon Webb.

Tander ended up finishing 17th while Davison finished 22nd before parking his #22 Commodore off the track on the in lap with broken steering.

The team’s woes began when, while Tander was leading the race, his pitstop took about 10 seconds longer than it should have after his #2 Commodore hit the tyres which were to be fitted to the right side of his car.

“Triple Eight came out very, very early and put all their gear right out nice and wide so I had to steer around that and so (I) knocked both of the tyres over because I couldn’t get in the box,” he explained.

“That slowed us down so a bit of gamesmanship going on, but all’s fair in competition.”

HRT’s luck turned even worse when GT and Davo came together at the end of the race.

“Will was out wide trying to under and over someone; I think there was a bit of a fight going on at turn 10 so he was out wide and I was sort of halfway up the inside and he didn’t see me coming and contact (was made),” Tander said.

“It’s certainly not the result that HRT had hoped for but we’re not going to change that now by yelling and screaming and carrying on. We’ll put it behind us and try again tomorrow.”

Davison, who was in front of Tander and got squeezed by Webb, said he was not exactly sure what happened during the incident.

“Got collected by Garth, which was obviously not ideal,” he said.

“Everyone was in a lot of trouble with tyres and we were all just hanging on for grim death.

“I had a difficult race but I was actually soldiering forward pretty well in those last few laps and I had just got through Garth.

“I didn’t see him, turned in and felt a big whack.”

Davison noted that it was not ideal to crash out with a teammate.

“But it’s just one of those things at the end of the day,” he said.

“Yeah, the team doesn’t like us taking each other out. You try and race clean with your teammates and I don’t think it was intentional on his part at all.”

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