The Crittenden Automotive Library

SBR’S KIWI DUO QUICKEST ON DAY 1 AT PHILLIP ISLAND

Topics: L&H 500 Phillip Island, Shane van Gisbergen, John McIntyre

SBR’S KIWI DUO QUICKEST ON DAY 1 AT PHILLIP ISLAND

Stone Brothers Racing
September 10, 2010

After a long nine week break the V8 Supercars were back on track today for the opening day of the L&H 500 at Phillip Island. It was the Kiwi’s who set the pace with Shane van Gisbergen and John McIntyre ending the day with the quickest overall lap time in the SP Tools Racing FG Falcon after three 30 minutes practice sessions. It was the first time since Bathurst 2009 that the wet weather tyres were rolled out thanks to rain that remained present for most part of the day.

All three of SBR’s driver combinations finished the day inside the top 15 with Wilson Security Racing’s Tim Slade and Jack Perkins ending up 11th while IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison and David Braham ended up 15th.

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

“It was pretty hard with the changeable conditions early on and then John got out there and got a few laps and did a great job. On new tyres it is such an awesome feeling when you have that amount of grip here and you can push it knowing you have such a great car underneath you. It was certainly an awesome feeling doing those two quick laps at the end there.

“I think the wind can help you a bit here , the way the car handles through the corners, the attitude of the wind on the nose or whether its pushing it changes it alot and as we know this circuit changes every time you come here but there is no questioning its very fast out there.

“I think I spent the first lap just laughing, thinking how good is this, I have missed being in the car so much, it’s just good to be back!”

John McIntyre – Co-driver, SP Tools Racing Car #9

“It was a good day and the car was quick out of the box which makes it easy. I think my times today are a reflection of the amount of the time I have spent in the car already this year which is crucial, so to do a time so similar to Shane on the same set of tyres is a great start to the weekend for me.

“We have seen alot of cars in the past quickest on Friday but not up there when it counts on Sunday so we are keeping ourselves in check but there is no denying it’s a thrill to be up here and be quickest on day one.”

Tim Slade – Driver, Wilson Security Racing Car #47

“Today was as I expected, the SBR cars were quick here last year and it was good to have the car quick straight out of the box, even in the wet it felt really good. That’s my first time driving an SBR car in the wet.

“When Jack jumped in for the second session he started complaining about a bit of axle tramp with the car and slow second gear stuff and I guess not being in the car all the time he wasn’t sure whether it was normal or not. When he kept saying something didn’t feel right I jumped back in and straight away I knew it wasn’t normal so we came in and fixed the mechanical drama.

“At the end of the day we probably didn’t have the ideal setup as we picked up a lot of push after we fixed the problem and ran out of time, I'm not disappointed at all though, obviously the cars are fast, Shane proved that so right now I'm pretty happy.”

Jack Perkins – Co-driver, Wilson Security Racing Car #47

“At the end it was a good day, we had a couple of little dramas that we were able to rectify which is good for tomorrow and Tim’s pace there at the end was really promising and it was good to see the #47 car up towards the pointy end.

“I probably ran at the wrong times today, it was wet when we had slicks on and dry when we had wets on and I didn’t get a great deal of laps in today but I still feel really comfortable with the whole thing and I am just keen to get on with it tomorrow.”

Alex Davison – Driver IRWIN Racing Car #4

“It's good to get out there after such a long break. It’s a pity we had such a hard day with the weather because David [Brabham] really needs as many laps as possible. Neither of us ended up getting many laps in the dry, but we knew this meeting was going to be about David getting up to speed.

“We'll really be concentrating on getting the set-up right in tomorrow morning's first practice session so that we are ready for qualifying. I’m feeling positive at the moment.”

David Brabham – Co-driver IRWIN Racing Car #4

“It would have been nice to have some more consistency with the weather and red flags. Whenever I went out the conditions were changing which made life more challenging in terms of feeling comfortable in the car and giving strong feedback to the guys. I started to get into a bit of a rhythm in that last session, going three of four tenths (of a second) faster.

I feel like I want the car to do certain things now, so it’s a question of talking to Alex and David [Stuart] and figuring out if I’m feeling something normal or something that needs fixing. Overall though, I was happy with the progress.”

The V8 Supercars will back on track tomorrow at 9:15pm for Practice 4 before the two Qualifying Races in the afternoon.

L&H Phillip Island Practice Combined – RESULTS

1 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane van Gisbergen/John McIntyre 1:32.7984
2 888 TeamVodafone/Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife 1:33.0191
3 15 Jack Daniel's Racing/Rick Kelly/Owen Kelly 1:33.4120
4 24 Bundaberg Red Racing Team/Fabian Coulthard/Craig Baird 1:33.4214
5 1 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup/Steve Owen 1:33.5070
6 18 Jim Beam Racing/James Courtney/Warren Luff 1:33.5473
7 7 Jack Daniel's Racing/Todd Kelly/Dale Wood 1:33.5537
8 5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon/Mark Winterbottom/Luke Youlden 1:33.6347
9 2 Toll Holden Racing Team/Garth Tander/Cameron McConville 1:33.7060
10 17 Jim Beam Racing/Steven Johnson/Marcos Marshall 1:33.7163
11 47 Wilson Security Racing/Tim Slade/Jack Perkins 1:33.7310
15 4 IRWIN Racing/Alex Davison/David Brabham 1:34.2817

L&H Phillip Island Practice 3 – RESULTS

1 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane van Gisbergen/John McIntyre 1:32.7984
2 888 TeamVodafone/Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife 1:33.0191
3 15 Jack Daniel's Racing/Rick Kelly/Owen Kelly 1:33.4120
4 24 Bundaberg Red Racing Team/Fabian Coulthard/Craig Baird 1:33.4214
5 1 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup/Steve Owen 1:33.5070
6 18 Jim Beam Racing/James Courtney/Warren Luff 1:33.5473
7 7 Jack Daniel's Racing/Todd Kelly/Dale Wood 1:33.5537
8 5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon/Mark Winterbottom 1:33.6347
9 2 Toll Holden Racing Team/Garth Tander 1:33.7060
10 17 Jim Beam Racing/Steve Johnson/Marcos Marshall 1:33.7163
11 47 Wilson Security Racing/Tim Slade/Jack Perkins 1:33.7310
15 4 IRWIN Racing/Alex Davison/David Brabham 1:34.2817

L&H Phillip Island Practice2 – RESULTS

1 17 Jim Beam Racing/Steven Johnson/Marcos Marshall 1:34.4853
2 22 Toll Holden Racing Team/Will Davison 1:34.6789
3 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane van Gisbergen/John McIntyre 1:34.9432
4 24 Bundaberg Red Racing Team/Fabian Coulthard/Craig Baird 1:35.0025
5 1 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup/Steve Owen 1:35.0471
6 39 Supercheap Auto Racing/Russell Ingall/Paul Morris 1:35.0567
7 4 IRWIN Racing/Alex Davison/David Brabham 1:35.1264
8 18 Jim Beam Racing/James Courtney/Warren Luff 1:35.1978
9 19 Dick Johnson Racing/Jonathon Webb/David Russell 1:35.2581
10 11 Rock Racing/Jason Bargwanna/Glenn Seton 1:35.2828
25 47 Wilson Security Racing/Tim Slade/Jack Perkins 1:36.4329

L&H Phillip Island Practice 1 – RESULTS

1 888 TeamVodafone/Craig Lowndes 1:33.5865
2 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane van Gisbergen/John McIntyre 1:33.7515
3 18 Jim Beam Racing/James Courtney/Warren Luff 1:34.0046
4 47 Wilson Security Racing/Tim Slade 1:34.1430
5 33 Fujitsu Racing / GRM/Lee Holdsworth 1:34.2301
6 1 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup 1:34.2984
7 39 Supercheap Auto Racing/Russell Ingall 1:34.5215
8 7 Jack Daniel's Racing/Todd Kelly/Dale Wood 1:34.9255
9 5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon/Mark Winterbottom/Luke Youlden 1:34.9615
10 51 Castrol Edge Racing/Greg Murphy/Tim Blanchard 1:34.9650
21 4 IRWIN Racing/Alex Davison/David Brabham 1:38.6317