The Crittenden Automotive Library

“TOMORROW WILL BE TOUGH”

Topics: V8 Supercar Challenge

“TOMORROW WILL BE TOUGH”

Stone Brothers Racing
October 23, 2009

SBR have a tough start to the race weekend ahead of them after a nightmare opening day at the Nikon SuperGP event on the Gold Coast. Both the IRWIN Racing and SP Tools Racing cars will not take part in the mornings shootout after Shane van Gisbergen and Alex Davison made contact with the street circuit’s unforgiving concrete walls in today’s practice and qualifying sessions.

The IRWIN car suffered suspension damage when Davison clashed with the wall in the final leg of Practice when trying to reenter the circuit after driving off into a runoff area.

Teammate Shane van Gisbergen was quick in the days earlier sessions but also fell victim to the concrete barriers when he locked a wheel and hit a fence head on in Qualifying.

Shane van Gisbergen – Driver, SP Tools Racing Car #9

“In the first leg of qualifying I was pushing it a bit hard and locked a wheel and hit the fence head on at turn three. We managed to get the car back and get it fixed but it’s so hard here once you lose your confidence to get it back.

“We are obviously disappointed with our starting position but we will work hard in the races tomorrow and hopefully make up for today.”

Alex Davison – Driver, IRWIN Racing Car #4

"We were just slow today. We are struggling with the handling of the car. I had hoped that the progress we had made at Phillip Island and Bathurst would have flowed onto this weekend but that wasn’t the case today.

“The team has a lot of work to do to move forward and get some speed out of the car for the races tomorrow.

“When I went down the escape road I spun around to get back on track and hit the wall. I must have got on the dirty line because the car just slid out from underneath me. It certainly wasn’t one of my proudest moments.”