Rick76
12-04-2003, 09:10 PM
Skaife Takes Provisional Pole At Phillip Island
Qualifying Results - Top 10
1. Mark Skaife - Holden Race Team - Holden Commodore 1:33.6884
2. Marcos Ambrose - Pirtek Racing - Ford Falcon BA +0.0295
3. Jason Bright - Team Brock - Holden Commodore +0.0427
4. Todd Kelly - Holden Race Team - Holden Commodore +0.2288
5. Craig Lowndes - Ford Performance Racing - Ford Falcon BA +0.2311
6. Greg Murphy - KMart Racing - Holden Commodore +0.3569
7. John Bowe - OzEmail Race Team - Ford Falcon BA +0.4162
8. Steve Richards - Castrol Perkins Racing - Holden Commodore +0.4611
9. Garth Tander - Valvoline Racing - Holden Commodore +0.5694
10. Paul Weel - Team Brock - Holden Commodore +0.5999
Lap Records:
Qualifying - Radisich 1:32.9761 (2001)
Shootout - Skaife 1:32.5121 (2001)
Race - Lowndes 1:33.4389 (1999)
Estimated top speed: 250km/h - Gardner Straight
Estimated average speed: 160 km/h
Mark Skaife has taken provisional pole in a thrilling qualifying session at Phillip Island this afternoon. Skaife was held at bay until the closing minutes of the session, blistering the track with a 1m33.6884s lap that pushed Marcos Ambrose to second.
"I buggered the first lap and missed a gear coming out of Turn 2," Skaife explained of his fifth fastest first run. In between his two runs, he viewed a laptop computer to see how much time was lost by the muffed gear change before deciding not to change the car.
His second run with a half set of new tyres was quick enough to score provisional pole while holding a fresh set of tyres for tomorrow's Shootout. But Skaife said he was also looking further.
"It is more of an engineering exercise than anything," Skaife explained of getting the car set-up for a warm-up session, the Top 10 Shootout and then the race. "Just working to get the right set-up for each session will be a challenge in itself.
"We'll battle to get through on only one tyre stop, and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves... or not going fast enough. Everywhere we've been with the VY it's been fast in terms of one-lap speed, we're just not sure how it will go in the race though."
Marcos Ambrose was second quickest. "It was not a bad run, I would like to have got provisional pole but it is only 3/100ths. It is not a good qualifying car yet, so we'll just look to the shootout tomorrow - it is important to get on the front two rows.
"We had a fair crack at it today, and we are happy with that."
Third fell to the Betta Electrical Team Brock driver Jason Bright, the fastest of the drivers in one of last year's cars.
"We've been struggling more than we'd like," he said, before pointing out that legal issues with his fledgling team have prevented them from testing.
Todd Kelly proved the HRT is still on top of its game by landing the second HRT car fourth fastest position and a start in the shoot-out tomorrow morning.
"You only get one lap here, to get a good second lap out of your greens you'd have to do something special. But we're happy with that, we've been working on a race set-up because it is going to be tough tomorrow."
Craig Lowndes was fifth fastest, enjoying the benefits of a test session here earlier in the season. He said the sessions completed in his CAT Ford Performance Racing Falcon helped them to sort out some bugs that Ambrose's team would be solving overnight.
"If we are going to have a fair crack at winning races this year, it is going to be here," Lowndes said of his new home track. "We've done some distance testing here, so we've got a pretty good idea what the long race will do to our tyres.
"We have run close to a race simulation already, we did what I think will be a first stint on tyres. That knowledge will help us; we test here, we know the circuit."
Also earning a start in the shootout tomorrow was yesterday's fastest man, Greg Murphy. The controversial Kiwi driver was flying in his Kmart Commodore, just heading John Bowe, Steven Richards, Garth Tander and Paul Weel.
Russell Ingall had a huge crash in the final practice session, slipping off the track in a pile of oil left when the engine let go in John Bowe's OzEmail Falcon. Ingall speared off the track and was airborne, almost flipping the Havoline Falcon before coming to rest with significant damage to the underside of the car.
He missed the qualifying session and will start tomorrow's 67 lap, 300km race from the rear of the 34-car grid. This is the first of the new format race meetings, and all drivers agreed there are a lot of questions left open at this point.
"We haven't done a 300km race, so no one really knows," Marcos Ambrose said.
Qualifying Results - Top 10
1. Mark Skaife - Holden Race Team - Holden Commodore 1:33.6884
2. Marcos Ambrose - Pirtek Racing - Ford Falcon BA +0.0295
3. Jason Bright - Team Brock - Holden Commodore +0.0427
4. Todd Kelly - Holden Race Team - Holden Commodore +0.2288
5. Craig Lowndes - Ford Performance Racing - Ford Falcon BA +0.2311
6. Greg Murphy - KMart Racing - Holden Commodore +0.3569
7. John Bowe - OzEmail Race Team - Ford Falcon BA +0.4162
8. Steve Richards - Castrol Perkins Racing - Holden Commodore +0.4611
9. Garth Tander - Valvoline Racing - Holden Commodore +0.5694
10. Paul Weel - Team Brock - Holden Commodore +0.5999
Lap Records:
Qualifying - Radisich 1:32.9761 (2001)
Shootout - Skaife 1:32.5121 (2001)
Race - Lowndes 1:33.4389 (1999)
Estimated top speed: 250km/h - Gardner Straight
Estimated average speed: 160 km/h
Mark Skaife has taken provisional pole in a thrilling qualifying session at Phillip Island this afternoon. Skaife was held at bay until the closing minutes of the session, blistering the track with a 1m33.6884s lap that pushed Marcos Ambrose to second.
"I buggered the first lap and missed a gear coming out of Turn 2," Skaife explained of his fifth fastest first run. In between his two runs, he viewed a laptop computer to see how much time was lost by the muffed gear change before deciding not to change the car.
His second run with a half set of new tyres was quick enough to score provisional pole while holding a fresh set of tyres for tomorrow's Shootout. But Skaife said he was also looking further.
"It is more of an engineering exercise than anything," Skaife explained of getting the car set-up for a warm-up session, the Top 10 Shootout and then the race. "Just working to get the right set-up for each session will be a challenge in itself.
"We'll battle to get through on only one tyre stop, and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves... or not going fast enough. Everywhere we've been with the VY it's been fast in terms of one-lap speed, we're just not sure how it will go in the race though."
Marcos Ambrose was second quickest. "It was not a bad run, I would like to have got provisional pole but it is only 3/100ths. It is not a good qualifying car yet, so we'll just look to the shootout tomorrow - it is important to get on the front two rows.
"We had a fair crack at it today, and we are happy with that."
Third fell to the Betta Electrical Team Brock driver Jason Bright, the fastest of the drivers in one of last year's cars.
"We've been struggling more than we'd like," he said, before pointing out that legal issues with his fledgling team have prevented them from testing.
Todd Kelly proved the HRT is still on top of its game by landing the second HRT car fourth fastest position and a start in the shoot-out tomorrow morning.
"You only get one lap here, to get a good second lap out of your greens you'd have to do something special. But we're happy with that, we've been working on a race set-up because it is going to be tough tomorrow."
Craig Lowndes was fifth fastest, enjoying the benefits of a test session here earlier in the season. He said the sessions completed in his CAT Ford Performance Racing Falcon helped them to sort out some bugs that Ambrose's team would be solving overnight.
"If we are going to have a fair crack at winning races this year, it is going to be here," Lowndes said of his new home track. "We've done some distance testing here, so we've got a pretty good idea what the long race will do to our tyres.
"We have run close to a race simulation already, we did what I think will be a first stint on tyres. That knowledge will help us; we test here, we know the circuit."
Also earning a start in the shootout tomorrow was yesterday's fastest man, Greg Murphy. The controversial Kiwi driver was flying in his Kmart Commodore, just heading John Bowe, Steven Richards, Garth Tander and Paul Weel.
Russell Ingall had a huge crash in the final practice session, slipping off the track in a pile of oil left when the engine let go in John Bowe's OzEmail Falcon. Ingall speared off the track and was airborne, almost flipping the Havoline Falcon before coming to rest with significant damage to the underside of the car.
He missed the qualifying session and will start tomorrow's 67 lap, 300km race from the rear of the 34-car grid. This is the first of the new format race meetings, and all drivers agreed there are a lot of questions left open at this point.
"We haven't done a 300km race, so no one really knows," Marcos Ambrose said.