Clipsal 500 - Round 1

May I also add what an idiot Dumbrell is trying to overtake Kelly in an impossible position!

What 2/3 of the podium said...

Jamie Whincup

"That was an exciting race and is up there with one of my best, to come here on a very tough day in tough conditions and get a win was very satisfying and as an athlete that’s what you do it for.
The team thought it was a good idea to put another battery in which got us to the end. But our strategy was completely thrown out of the window and it was certainly not ideal."

Mark Winterbottom

"It wasn’t a fair move, but motor sport’s a big circle and you’ll always get a pass you don’t agree with. But as long as it is the same and you don’t get penalised when exactly the same thing is done by another driver then you know where you stand. Perhaps three laps to go tomorrow when I’m behind him I’ll get past him if I’m quick enough"

Mark Winterbottom

"It wasn’t a fair move, but motor sport’s a big circle and you’ll always get a pass you don’t agree with.

And all you Holden fans accuse Frosty of whinging!

I haven't accused Frosty of whining at all. I understand that it's motorsport and things don't always go your way.

at least thats one of you...

Same here. I only whinge because of Tom Walkinshaw!!!

lol

What GT said about his problem

Something in the front suspension failed. We are still looking into it at the moment.
But of course it’s disappointing. We were going pretty well; we had pretty good pace and I think our strategy was pretty right, but it just wasn’t to be.
We had really good pace and we were looking at a good result so we will just see what happens tomorrow.
The competition is a little bit tougher now, but we will get past as many of them as we can and score some points.

And what Lee Holdsworth said about being 4th and his new teammate Michael Caruso...

It’s brilliant to be the first Holden, the boys did an excellent job in their stops and we actually did one of our quickest stops ever, so we picked up a couple of spots which was a great result. The car had really brilliant pace the whole way though, the tyres stayed in there and we were able to catch up on the guys up the front, we just weren’t able to pass them.
We’ll be getting the full Walkinshaw spec engines half way through the season; they don’t have all the parts for them yet but we’ve found improvements already so we’re really looking positive.
We’ll have the same plan as today, just stay out of trouble at the start, try and keep up a consistent pace and hopefully make a few more spots up and end up on the podium.
We certainly had the pace to be at the front today we just didn’t start in the right spot on the grid, we’ll try and make it a Holden day tomorrow.
Michael’s definitely on a huge learning curve at the moment.
He had his first taste of the big show today and got a bit beaten and battered around but I think you can definitely expect some good things from Garry Rogers Motorsport this year.

I've got some more driver interviews, of course from the V8 website...

James Courtney

That was just shattering. To be out in front like that, doing it pretty easily and then have it taken out of your hands like that; I just can’t believe it.
At this level of competition you expect better driving than that.
I’m just so disappointed for me and more so for the JELD-WEN guys that have worked so hard to get us in this position. They gave me a great car this weekend that was more than capable of winning.

Shane Van Gisbergen

We just wanted to be consistent and stay straight today and we did, we had a really good race.
I probably wasn’t as aggressive at the start as I should have been but we stuck with the front bunch.
Today was definitely one of the toughest and longest races that I have done. I knew it was going to be even harder when my cool suit failed on the grid. The legs started to numb up and it got hard towards the end but I wasn’t going to give up.
We’ve got a bit to do on the car tonight; we think we can make it better for tomorrow. The goal is to bring it home straight again and see if we can pick up a few more places.

Fabian Coulthard

The plan is to move forward this weekend. For the first race out, we're pretty happy - but we need to keep the momentum going tomorrow.
We've got to keep level-headed, there's another race to be won tomorrow.
We need to be consistent and a race finish similar today is what we're looking for.
Of course a top-ten finish would be ideal but we're sticking to the game plan of finishing inside the top 50 percent again tomorrow.

Will Davison

It was a tough race but there were certainly some missed opportunities which cost me both time and positions. Unfortunately there was a mishap during my first pit stop which cost quite a bit of time and I recovered from that to get back to 6th place, but then got caught behind slower traffic after the safety car which cost me 3 positions. I was lucky to survive the mess and recover the lost positions, cars were just going everywhere!
I think I had the speed to have a real shot at 3rd or 4th place today but everything is good in hindsight. We just have to focus on tomorrow’s race and do the best we possibly can to get on the podium which I really believe we have a great shot at achieving.

Steven Johnson

We made a change to the set up of the car during the race which seemed to make it better toward the end and more consistent following the pit stops. Although it was a cooler day, there was only one safety car period and even then it was only out for one lap so 68 laps under race conditions was still pretty tough.
There’s still some work to do on the car to make it quicker again so we can maintain the pace with the leaders in the front pack, but it’s good that we have reasonable pace in comparison to last year. Tomorrow I’ll just press on and get a good start and hopefully move up a few positions to get a good result.

Craig Lowndes

At this track it is always important to get a good start and I was quite surprised how cautious the race pace was early on.
Our mid race strategy was spot on allowing me to remain competitive with Frosty and Tander. We did suffer a couple of car issues, with the front sway bar the biggest concern as it locked on in one position.
It is a credit to the team that our off season preparation has been so thorough, there is no better result than two cars on the podium.

Mark Skaife

Our car speed was probably seventh or eighth today, so ninth is reasonable.
The Toll HRT Commodore was definitely better than it was in qualifying yesterday; we made progress over night and were quick in this morning’s warm-up, but I still thought we may have been a little too conservative – it wasn’t bad but missed the ultimate pace.
When I came out on fresh rears I locked the right front badly into turn 4 twice and made a 50 cent piece out of it, and from there I was limping home.
We’ll have a debrief tonight and probably be a little more aggressive. With more rubber down hopefully the car will respond and we’ll come home stronger.

Andrew Thompson

I was really disappointed with getting turned around so early in the race, and then to have an unscheduled stop with the flat put us down a couple of laps, but I worked away, trying some different settings and found some good race rhythm. I am happy to have bought the car home straight and in the top 20. Today was a great experience and I’m really looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow to do it all again.

Rick Kelly

The car was okay, I would have liked to have been a bit quicker. We’ll make a few more changes ahead of Race 2 tomorrow and hopefully we can be right amongst it.
Paul and I spoke after the race about what happened on Lap 67. I am not angry at him or vice-versa, it’s just one of things that happens out there.
To be honest, with the fine-tuning we’ve been doing with the car to finish 8th is not too bad. It gives us a great opportunity to push up the placings tomorrow.

Paul Dumbrell

It was unfortunate, one of those things. Rick let me past him – I just got through – and then I ended up glancing the wall.
Luckily for Rick he only lost a couple of spots in the end. It’s disappointing, but it’s Race 1 of Round 1 and there is a long way to go. I’ve taken responsibility for what happened. The car was great up to when I had to pit.
We had good speed and I have no complaints whatsoever. We made a few adjustments following on from yesterday and the car was great.
I am looking forward to getting back out there in Race 2 tomorrow and making amends.

Sounds like Gizzy could do a lot better!!!

Good work to Team BOC and GRM. Well deserves podiums.

WOO!!! What a race!!! Shame about the driving standards (don't get me started!!!), but a great drive for the young guns!!! GO GIZZY!!!!! GO WHINCUP!!!!! GO FORD!!!!

Race results:

http://www.v8supercar.com.au/v8data/2008/evnt_246/raceresult.asp?ssn=2008&ind=M&rid=899&eid=246&ts=&rDesc=Race%202&rDay=Sunday%20%20%20%20&keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=400&width=800

Round results:

TBP [To be posted]

Pretty good for Ford if you ask me....

Bad luck for HRT AGAIN! I'm putting this one behind me and I'm looking forward to Eastern Creek.

Driving standards will keep this topic busy.

JC has moved from Ford idiot onto my heroes list

Well done to James, he really deserved to put Lowndes out of the race because you knew he'd cause such a farce by taking others out at turn 9, you're not Rick! Did you hang a picture of him on your wall?

Anyway the Championship Standings are wowish and look like this...

1 Jamie Whincup 300
2 Lee Holdsworth 258
3 Rick Kelly 192
4 Steven Johnson 186
5 Todd Kelly 180
6 Shane Van Gisbergen 180
7 Greg Murphy 174
8 Steven Richards 171
9 Jason Richards 156
10 Mark Skaife 138
11 Mark Winterbottom 138
12 Cameron McConville 129
13 Craig Lowndes 129
14 Fabian Coulthard 123
15 Andrew Jones120
16 Marcus Marshall 114
17 Kayne Scott 102
18 Will Davison 96
19 Garth Tander 84
20 Jason Bright 78
21 Michael Caruso 72
22 Russell Ingall 63
23 Paul Morris 57
24 James Courtney 57
25 Tony D'Alberto 54
26 Andrew Thompson 45
27 Shane Price 42
28 Paul Dumbrell 0

Drive of the weekend...

Greg Murphy... Cam McConville and Jamie Whincup seems like a cop out here. Yet none recovered from 5 pitstops or drive the whole race with a broken steering arm.

Notable
Jason Richards
Todd Kelly
Shane Van Gisbergen
Cameron McConville
Jamie Whincup

Dogshit Award...

Garth Tander. Welcome to HRT. You've already won a title.
STRIPPED: Following an overview of the race the award now goes to Craig Lowndes idiotic performance in race 2.

Notable
James Courtney
Craig Lowndes
Steven Richards
(all based on race 2)
Paul Dumbrell

Unlucky
Rick Kelly: How unlucky and at the same time lucky was Rick in race 1? That was amazing he kept it off the wall. He deserved more than 8th in that race but it then paid dividends, being 3rd in the championship

Notable:
Fabian Coulthard
Steven Johnson (Maybe I should've chosen him...)
Garth Tander

They are my awards. Driver opinions coming soon!

Summary of incidents Race 1, Race 2 coming soon

CAMS wrote:Matters Arising from Leg 1:

The Stewards imposed a Pit Lane Penalty on Paul Morris Car #67 for a driving infringement on Andrew Thompson Car #50.

Following an investigation and an admission by James Courtney Car #4 that he had breached the Code of Driving Conduct (contact with Greg Murphy Car #51 on Lap 52) the Stewards reversed the finishing order for Car #4 and Car #51.

Following an investigation and an admission by James Courtney Car #4 that he had breached the Code of Driving Conduct (driving infringement on Todd Kelly Car #7 at Turn 5 Lap 74) the Stewards imposed the penalty of a PLP time of 22 seconds to be added to the Leg 1 time for James Courtney Car #4.

The following matters were investigated, no breach of rules established:

• An incident involving Paul Dumbrell Car #16 and Rick Kelly Car #15 at Turn 11.

• An incident involving Jamie Whincup Car #88 and Mark Winterbottom Car #5 at Turn 9.

An investigation into the use of only 1 air impact device by Team Kiwi Racing revealed no breach of rules.

Following an investigation and an admission by Paul Morris Car #67 that he had engaged in conduct prejudicial, namely uttering foul language over TV broadcast, the Stewards imposed a Fine of $10,000 with $8,000 suspended until 31/12/08.

Well as usual the Holden fans are completley bias, but I think McConky did very well!!! As well as my new Kiwi idol Gizzy....

Admin_Holden wrote:Dogshit Award...

Garth Tander. Welcome to HRT. You've already won a title.

Leave him alone. If you bag him, you bag everyone that is or was at HRT, including Lowndes, Brock etc. Skaife won three consecutive titles with HRT. Look at Skaife @ Adelaide in 2000. He managed to work his way through a whole field in one race. Having a crappy round at Adelaide doesn't mean anything.

Well it was a bad intro to the team having two incidents in two races. You were bagging HRT yourself for their livery!

--->Da[V]id<--- wrote:

Admin_Holden wrote:Dogshit Award...

Garth Tander. Welcome to HRT. You've already won a title.

Leave him alone. If you bag him, you bag everyone that is or was at HRT, including Lowndes, Brock etc. Skaife won three consecutive titles with HRT. Look at Skaife @ Adelaide in 2000. He managed to work his way through a whole field in one race. Having a crappy round at Adelaide doesn't mean anything.

I'm not bagging him anymore. Following an investigation into what the other drivers said the award has now gone to Craig Lowndes for his Race 2 performance.

Admin_Ford wrote:Well as usual the Holden fans are completley bias

The Ford drivers hated Lowndes for what he did in Race 2. I'm not bias!

And now the teams...

1 Team Vodafone 429
2 Garry Rogers Motorsport 330
3 Tasman Motorsport 330
4 Ford Performance Racing 309
5 Jim Beam Racing 282
6 Brad Jones Racing 249
7 Stone Brothers Racing 237
8 Jack Daniels Racing 222
9 Toll Holden Racing Team 222
10 Fujitsu Racing 192
11 HSV Dealer Team 192
12 Glenfords Racing (S) 123
13 Supercheap Auto Racing 120
14 Team Kiwi Racing (S) 102
15 Rod Nash Racing 54
16 PWR Performance Products 45

I highly doubt Tasman will stay there for long... and GRM will more than likely slip as it'll be just Holdsworth getting points for them... FPR / DJR / HRT will easily climb back up there into the top 5...

Admin_Ford wrote:I highly doubt Tasman will stay there for long...

They will even if they do have old cars for the first two rounds

Tasman are a new force to be reckoned with, but I don't think that they will stay there for the whole year.

After you added stuff to "with" I feel down...