hoon69
01-07-2005, 11:35 PM
China momentum keeps Kelly at the top
Release Date: 01/07/2005
Holden Racing Team’s Todd Kelly has carried his round winning form from China to Darwin, heading the time sheets on the opening day of practice for the SkyCity Supercars at Hidden Valley in Darwin today.
Kelly set his best time towards the end of the session, just before a trail of oil was left on the track. He held out fellow Holden rivals Paul Morris and Steve Richards for a Holden trifecta.
Kelly, the winner of this round last year, said the win in China was a great fillip for the team, and that he hoped they could now throw down a serious challenge to Series leader Marcos Ambrose who was down in 15th today.
“If we can get a little bit of momentum out of the China win, and I think we can, then we should be all right,” he said.
“Mark and I are fourth and fifth in the Championship, and we want to move up from there. I didn’t put green tyres on, there was a lot of oil on the track at the end I thought it was better not to risk the tyres.
“I thought a few more would have used them by then too, so we didn’t really need to anyway.”
Paul Morris was a surprise second, and he quickly confessed to running a totally green set of tyres.
“We had some pretty old tyre on for most of the session, and we fired some green tyres on at the end there,” he said. “We had a bit of understeer on those tyres, but it was all good.
“I probably went off about 10 times during that session, but not on the green tyres.”
The leading Holden driver in the Series, Steve Richards, was third quickest and he said the session was now a pretty good form guide for the weekend.
“It was a good session for us, we just progressed slowly and we tried a few things out,” Richards said.
“We didn’t put totally new tyres on, but you never come to a race meeting now without a pretty good set of tyres, and the Friday sessions is now a pretty good form guide because of that.”
Craig Lowndes was the fastest of the Fords, and he said he was hoping for a better weekend than he endured in China at the previous round.
“We struggled early on and we had to chase the car a little bit while the circuit grip was down,” he said. “We’ve got some things we want to try for qualifying, we think we know what we will suit the green tyres and we’ll give it a shot.
“We just have to try and score some points after the disaster with the clutch in China. We have to get some consistency – we’ve had three pole positions, one round win and few DNFS, so we need to get more out of it.”
Simon Wills was a surprise fifth fastest today, bumping out many of his more fancied rivals with a good run in the latter half of the two hour session.
“The session started out pretty rough, we had a drive shaft problem which we had to change, but then it was pretty good,” Wills said.
“We run on a small budget and we haven’t tested yet this season, so this a dream result for us with where we are at.”
Series contenders Russell Ingall, Mark Skaife and Ambrose were all outside the top 5, while Greg Murphy was way down in 31st and struggling in his SuperCheap Commodore.
Murphy went off the track near the end of the session and brushed a wall, while Greg Ritter earlier damaged his Ford Credit Falcon with a bigger hit.
Qualifying starts tomorrow morning at 11:30am local time, while the day ends with a 17 lap race at 3pm.
Top 10 Friday Practice
2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series – Round 6
Hidden Valley Raceway
1. Todd Kelly - 1:09.5970
2. Paul Morris - 1:09.6808
3. Steven Richards - 1:09.6915
4. Craig Lowndes - 1:09.8044
5. Simon Wills - 1:09.8647
6. Russell Ingall - 1:09.9306
7. Mark Skaife - 1:09.9547
8. Paul Radisich - 1:10.0105
9. John Bowe - 1:10.0544
10. Craig Baird - 1:10.0679
SKYCITY V8 Supercars Darwin, Hidden Valley Raceway, Round 6 1/7/2005 - 3/7/2005
Practice
Race Day: Friday, 13:30-14:30 Race Duration: 2 Hours Reverse Grid: N
Pos Car Entrant Driver Vehicle Laps Fastest Lap Fastest Lap Time Gap
1 22 Holden Racing Team Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VZ 33 28 1:09.5970
2 67 Sirromet-Life Style Wine Paul Morris Holden Commodore VZ 41 38 1:09.6808 0:00.0838
3 11 Team Perkins Racing Steven Richards Holden Commodore VY 32 25 1:09.6915 0:00.0945
4 888 Team Betta Electrical Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BA 41 28 1:09.8044 0:00.2074
5 44 Team Dynamik Simon Wills Holden Commodore VZ 41 37 1:09.8647 0:00.2677
6 9 Caltex Racing Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BA 40 36 1:09.9306 0:00.3336
7 2 Holden Racing Team Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VZ 29 21 1:09.9547 0:00.3577
8 021 Team Kiwi Racing Paul Radisich Holden Commodore VZ 38 36 1:10.0105 0:00.4135
9 12 Team BOC John Bowe Ford Falcon BA 39 39 1:10.0544 0:00.4574
10 8 WPS Racing Craig Baird Ford Falcon BA 35 31 1:10.0679 0:00.4709
11 20 Larkham Orrcon Racing Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon BA 40 31 1:10.1155 0:00.5185
12 5 Ford Performance Racing Greg Ritter Ford Falcon BA 40 40 1:10.1400 0:00.5430
13 16 HSV Dealer Team Garth Tander Holden Commodore VZ 34 33 1:10.1558 0:00.5588
14 1 Pirtek Racing Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon BA 43 39 1:10.1604 0:00.5634
15 18 Westpoint Racing Glenn Seton Ford Falcon BA 41 36 1:10.1829 0:00.5859
16 3 Dodo Racing Jason Richards Holden Commodore VZ 28 18 1:10.2317 0:00.6347
17 10 Larkham Orrcon Racing Jason Bargwanna Ford Falcon BA 42 41 1:10.2662 0:00.6692
18 52 Fujitsu Racing Matthew White Ford Falcon BA 44 42 1:10.3335 0:00.7365
19 25 Fujitsu Racing Steve Owen Ford Falcon BA 40 40 1:10.3433 0:00.7463
20 17 Westpoint Racing Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BA 29 28 1:10.4066 0:00.8096
21 45 WOW Sight & Sound Max Wilson Holden Commodore VZ 41 35 1:10.4645 0:00.8675
22 48 WPS David Besnard Ford Falcon BA 39 38 1:10.4692 0:00.8722
23 7 Autobarn Racing Alex Davison Holden Commodore VZ 41 41 1:10.5344 0:00.9374
24 88 Team Betta Electrical Steve Ellery Ford Falcon BA 39 32 1:10.5525 0:00.9555
25 21 Team BOC Brad Jones Ford Falcon BA 35 32 1:10.5628 0:00.9658
26 50 Super Cheap Auto Racing Paul Weel Holden Commodore VZ 38 38 1:10.5912 0:00.9942
27 6 Ford Performance Racing Jason Bright Ford Falcon BA 34 16 1:10.6699 0:01.0729
28 15 HSV Dealer Team Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VZ 33 17 1:10.7230 0:01.1260
29 33 Repco Valvoline Cummins Team Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VZ 42 42 1:10.7440 0:01.1470
30 24 Team Perkins Racing Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VY 33 23 1:10.8009 0:01.2039
31 51 Super Cheap Auto Racing Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VZ 28 14 1:10.9324 0:01.3354
32 34 Repco Valvoline Cummins Team Andrew Jones Holden Commodore VZ 38 35 1:11.0241 0:01.4271
33 75 Toll Racing Anthony Tratt Holden Commodore VY 32 28 1:11.0344 0:01.4374
34 23 Dodo Racing Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore VZ 26 17 1:12.5057 0:02.9087
Release Date: 01/07/2005
Holden Racing Team’s Todd Kelly has carried his round winning form from China to Darwin, heading the time sheets on the opening day of practice for the SkyCity Supercars at Hidden Valley in Darwin today.
Kelly set his best time towards the end of the session, just before a trail of oil was left on the track. He held out fellow Holden rivals Paul Morris and Steve Richards for a Holden trifecta.
Kelly, the winner of this round last year, said the win in China was a great fillip for the team, and that he hoped they could now throw down a serious challenge to Series leader Marcos Ambrose who was down in 15th today.
“If we can get a little bit of momentum out of the China win, and I think we can, then we should be all right,” he said.
“Mark and I are fourth and fifth in the Championship, and we want to move up from there. I didn’t put green tyres on, there was a lot of oil on the track at the end I thought it was better not to risk the tyres.
“I thought a few more would have used them by then too, so we didn’t really need to anyway.”
Paul Morris was a surprise second, and he quickly confessed to running a totally green set of tyres.
“We had some pretty old tyre on for most of the session, and we fired some green tyres on at the end there,” he said. “We had a bit of understeer on those tyres, but it was all good.
“I probably went off about 10 times during that session, but not on the green tyres.”
The leading Holden driver in the Series, Steve Richards, was third quickest and he said the session was now a pretty good form guide for the weekend.
“It was a good session for us, we just progressed slowly and we tried a few things out,” Richards said.
“We didn’t put totally new tyres on, but you never come to a race meeting now without a pretty good set of tyres, and the Friday sessions is now a pretty good form guide because of that.”
Craig Lowndes was the fastest of the Fords, and he said he was hoping for a better weekend than he endured in China at the previous round.
“We struggled early on and we had to chase the car a little bit while the circuit grip was down,” he said. “We’ve got some things we want to try for qualifying, we think we know what we will suit the green tyres and we’ll give it a shot.
“We just have to try and score some points after the disaster with the clutch in China. We have to get some consistency – we’ve had three pole positions, one round win and few DNFS, so we need to get more out of it.”
Simon Wills was a surprise fifth fastest today, bumping out many of his more fancied rivals with a good run in the latter half of the two hour session.
“The session started out pretty rough, we had a drive shaft problem which we had to change, but then it was pretty good,” Wills said.
“We run on a small budget and we haven’t tested yet this season, so this a dream result for us with where we are at.”
Series contenders Russell Ingall, Mark Skaife and Ambrose were all outside the top 5, while Greg Murphy was way down in 31st and struggling in his SuperCheap Commodore.
Murphy went off the track near the end of the session and brushed a wall, while Greg Ritter earlier damaged his Ford Credit Falcon with a bigger hit.
Qualifying starts tomorrow morning at 11:30am local time, while the day ends with a 17 lap race at 3pm.
Top 10 Friday Practice
2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series – Round 6
Hidden Valley Raceway
1. Todd Kelly - 1:09.5970
2. Paul Morris - 1:09.6808
3. Steven Richards - 1:09.6915
4. Craig Lowndes - 1:09.8044
5. Simon Wills - 1:09.8647
6. Russell Ingall - 1:09.9306
7. Mark Skaife - 1:09.9547
8. Paul Radisich - 1:10.0105
9. John Bowe - 1:10.0544
10. Craig Baird - 1:10.0679
SKYCITY V8 Supercars Darwin, Hidden Valley Raceway, Round 6 1/7/2005 - 3/7/2005
Practice
Race Day: Friday, 13:30-14:30 Race Duration: 2 Hours Reverse Grid: N
Pos Car Entrant Driver Vehicle Laps Fastest Lap Fastest Lap Time Gap
1 22 Holden Racing Team Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VZ 33 28 1:09.5970
2 67 Sirromet-Life Style Wine Paul Morris Holden Commodore VZ 41 38 1:09.6808 0:00.0838
3 11 Team Perkins Racing Steven Richards Holden Commodore VY 32 25 1:09.6915 0:00.0945
4 888 Team Betta Electrical Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BA 41 28 1:09.8044 0:00.2074
5 44 Team Dynamik Simon Wills Holden Commodore VZ 41 37 1:09.8647 0:00.2677
6 9 Caltex Racing Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BA 40 36 1:09.9306 0:00.3336
7 2 Holden Racing Team Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VZ 29 21 1:09.9547 0:00.3577
8 021 Team Kiwi Racing Paul Radisich Holden Commodore VZ 38 36 1:10.0105 0:00.4135
9 12 Team BOC John Bowe Ford Falcon BA 39 39 1:10.0544 0:00.4574
10 8 WPS Racing Craig Baird Ford Falcon BA 35 31 1:10.0679 0:00.4709
11 20 Larkham Orrcon Racing Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon BA 40 31 1:10.1155 0:00.5185
12 5 Ford Performance Racing Greg Ritter Ford Falcon BA 40 40 1:10.1400 0:00.5430
13 16 HSV Dealer Team Garth Tander Holden Commodore VZ 34 33 1:10.1558 0:00.5588
14 1 Pirtek Racing Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon BA 43 39 1:10.1604 0:00.5634
15 18 Westpoint Racing Glenn Seton Ford Falcon BA 41 36 1:10.1829 0:00.5859
16 3 Dodo Racing Jason Richards Holden Commodore VZ 28 18 1:10.2317 0:00.6347
17 10 Larkham Orrcon Racing Jason Bargwanna Ford Falcon BA 42 41 1:10.2662 0:00.6692
18 52 Fujitsu Racing Matthew White Ford Falcon BA 44 42 1:10.3335 0:00.7365
19 25 Fujitsu Racing Steve Owen Ford Falcon BA 40 40 1:10.3433 0:00.7463
20 17 Westpoint Racing Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BA 29 28 1:10.4066 0:00.8096
21 45 WOW Sight & Sound Max Wilson Holden Commodore VZ 41 35 1:10.4645 0:00.8675
22 48 WPS David Besnard Ford Falcon BA 39 38 1:10.4692 0:00.8722
23 7 Autobarn Racing Alex Davison Holden Commodore VZ 41 41 1:10.5344 0:00.9374
24 88 Team Betta Electrical Steve Ellery Ford Falcon BA 39 32 1:10.5525 0:00.9555
25 21 Team BOC Brad Jones Ford Falcon BA 35 32 1:10.5628 0:00.9658
26 50 Super Cheap Auto Racing Paul Weel Holden Commodore VZ 38 38 1:10.5912 0:00.9942
27 6 Ford Performance Racing Jason Bright Ford Falcon BA 34 16 1:10.6699 0:01.0729
28 15 HSV Dealer Team Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VZ 33 17 1:10.7230 0:01.1260
29 33 Repco Valvoline Cummins Team Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VZ 42 42 1:10.7440 0:01.1470
30 24 Team Perkins Racing Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VY 33 23 1:10.8009 0:01.2039
31 51 Super Cheap Auto Racing Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VZ 28 14 1:10.9324 0:01.3354
32 34 Repco Valvoline Cummins Team Andrew Jones Holden Commodore VZ 38 35 1:11.0241 0:01.4271
33 75 Toll Racing Anthony Tratt Holden Commodore VY 32 28 1:11.0344 0:01.4374
34 23 Dodo Racing Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore VZ 26 17 1:12.5057 0:02.9087