The Crittenden Automotive Library

DOUBLE DOSE OF DRAMA FOR SBR IN TOWNSVILLE

Topics: Dunlop Townsville 400

DOUBLE DOSE OF DRAMA FOR SBR IN TOWNSVILLE

Stone Brothers Racing
July 11, 2009

Today’s 72 lap race didn’t go to plan for SBR as both cars suffered setbacks in the pits and on track. A messy pit stop under safety car cost van Gisbergen dearly while Davison was forced to retire from the race after the steering rack let go on the IRWIN Racing Falcon. Van Gisbergen did his best to recover in the race finishing 12th while Davison was forced to watch the dying stages of the race unfold from the SBR pit garage.

This morning’s qualifying saw van Gisbergen take part in his third career shootout after finishing 5th in the second elimination leg. His shootout lap time placed him in 7th position to start to 200km race.

Alex Davison’s qualifying woes continued when he failed to make it into the second leg. Alex had his work cut out for him in the race starting from 24th.

Paul Forgie – Engineer Car #9

“We were happy with qualifying today, it’s good for Shane to gain more experience in the shootouts and I was pleased with where he ended up on the grid.

“The race was all going well and to plan. The safety car came out at the right time for us and when we made our first pit stop we opted to put extra fuel in so we could get the jump on Will Davison when he had to make his second stop for more fuel.

“Our second pit stop is where it all fell to pieces. There was confusion among the crew on which car was coming in to stop and when Shane pulled up we had the wrong tyres out. The mistake cost us dearly, Shane did well to get back into the top ten after dropping so far back.

“At the end Shane struggled with the car and was unable to hold onto position. We are unsure just yet on what was wrong so it’s hard to say right now where the real problem lies.”

Shane van Gisbergen – SP Tools Racing, Driver Car #4

“Everything was going well in the race until we had the drama in the pits. It was a shame because we were looking good for a strong finishing position.

“When we mess up we mess up as a team and we will make up for it tomorrow.”

Wes McDougall – Engineer Car #4

“We missed the setup window in qualifying but it was encouraging that we didn’t need to change much on the car in order to be competitive in the race.

“In the race Alex was strong and didn’t set a foot wrong. He set the 5th quickest lap of the race and towards the end there Whincup and Alex had the fastest cars out there.

“It’s too early to say exactly what went wrong but we are pretty sure it was the steering rack that failed as a result of the incident on lap 1 with Murphy.

“Bring on qualifying tomorrow.”

Alex Davison – IRWIN Racing, Driver Car #4

“I got tangled up in an incident going into turn two on the first lap. Murphy tried to go three wide and I ended up getting sandwiched between him and another car.

“We were having a good run and the car was very competitive, when we were out in front I was able to settle into a rhythm and set some good lap times.

“I started to see smoke in the cabin a couple of corners before I stopped the car. It didn’t smell like the engine had died so I had a feeling the steering had let go. When it failed oil was dumped all over the rear tyres so at that stage there wasn’t much point in pressing on.

“Sunday is a good opportunity to improve on our qualifying in order to give us a good shot at a decent result tomorrow.”