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SBR MAKE SOLID START TO 2011 CHAMPIONSHIP

Topics: Yas V8 400

SBR MAKE SOLID START TO 2011 CHAMPIONSHIP

Stone Brothers Racing
February 13, 2011

Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) endured a race full of chaos and confusion to bring home two of their three Falcons in the top ten in the final V8 Supercar race at the Yas Marina Circuit this evening. Alex Davison in the #4 IRWIN Tools Racing Falcon stormed home to place seventh, with his team mate Shane van Gisbergen in the #9 SP Tools Racing Falcon right behind him in eighth place.

Their SBR counterpart Tim Slade wasn’t so fortunate, having his race prematurely ended on the opening lap after being tagged by Tony D’Alberto and subsequently rammed by Garth Tander who was unable to avoid the disabled #47 Lucky 7 Racing Falcon.

With the first of several safety cars called after the D’Alberto/Slade/Tander incident, chaos ensued when several cars made a beeline for the pits only to return to the circuit mid-pack and out of their correct race order.

The race was restarted and on the second safety car period several drivers, now clued up to the advantage of driving through the pit lane, further compounded the confusion by doing just that.

When racing finally resumed proper, Davison and van Gisbergen set about putting in some fast laps in order to climb back up through the field into their rightful positions.

Comfortably inside the top ten, the duo, who were well fuelled, played a waiting game in hope that those in front were going to have to drive conservatively if they were to make the finish line.

With the majority of those ahead making it to the line without an additional stop, Davison and van Gisbergen had to settle for seventh and eight places respectively but that result in itself was enough to secure second place for Davison in the Driver’s Championship behind Jamie Whincup and third place for van Gisbergen. Tim Slade's horror day sees him sitting in 19th place on the Championship table.

Stone Brothers Racing also maintains its lead in the Team Championship ahead of Team Vodafone.

Alex Davison – Driver, IRWIN Racing Car #4

“That was just as confusing for me as it probably was for the people at home. I didn’t have any idea where I was in the field until after the race. I didn’t bother about it, I just pressed on. I didn’t know if I was 20th or second.

There was all this funny strategic stuff going on and we missed the opportunity to take advantage of that early on so I found myself back in the pack and ended up damaging my steering after a run in with another competitor when I was trying to get past which was probably a little impatient of me. That was really disappointing because it affected the quality of the car for the remainder of the race but on the other hand we were probably lucky to be able to drive out of it because it could have been much worse.

Overall the weekend has been brilliant. We’ve come out with a strong Championship standing and good confidence having exceeded the expectations I set myself at the start of the weekend, so we’ve ticked some big boxes and can leave here feeling pretty good.”

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

“Who would have thought it would be quicker to go through the pits to pass people?

We were pretty unlucky on the opening lap, I thought I left enough room but someone came right through and left me pretty bent up and the car was never the same after that but still managed to maintain some good speed.

Once things settled down again I made some good passes but we were hurting at the end there hoping the other guys were going to run out of fuel but they somehow made it.

It’s all good though, we’ve made a strong start to our Championship campaign. ”

Tim Slade – Driver, Lucky 7 Racing Car #47

“I feel really sorry for the boys (his pit crew) after today’s debacle. They put in a lot of hard work to produce me a really good car this weekend and now, thanks to the stupid act of another driver there’s a wreck sitting there that’s going to have a lot of time and money thrown at it to bring it back to new.

Anyway, this weekend was a great start for me and the team and has given us a good foundation going to Clipsal in a few weeks so we’ll be back and give it another crack for our fans at home.”

Yas V8 400, Abu Dhabi – Qualifying Results

1 88 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup 1:56.4290
2 888 TeamVodafone/Craig Lowndes 1:56.7180
3 5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon/Mark Winterbottom 1:56.7710
4 17 Dick Johnson Racing/Steven Johnson 1:56.9660
5 1 Toll Holden Racing Team/James Courtney 1:56.9880
6 33 Fujitsu Racing GRM/Lee Holdsworth 1:57.0490
7 8 Team BOC/Jason Bright 1:57.0500
8 4 IRWIN Racing/Alex Davison 1:57.0520
9 34 Fujitsu Racing GRM/Michael Caruso 1:57.0960
10 47 Lucky 7 Racing/Tim Slade 1:57.1160
18 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane van Gisbergen 1:57.6280

Yas V8 400, Abu Dhabi – Race 2 (43 laps - 200 kms) RESULTS

1 1 Toll Holden Racing Team/James Courtney
2 8 Team BOC/Jason Bright
3 88 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup
4 16 Stratco Racing/David Reynolds
5 34 Fujitsu Racing GRM/Michael Caruso
6 19 Mother Energy Racing Team/Jonathon Webb
7 4 IRWIN Racing/Alex Davison
8 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane van Gisbergen
9 11 Pepsi Max Crew/Greg Murphy
10 55 The Bottle-O Racing Team/Paul Dumbrell
DNF 47 Lucky 7 Racing/Tim Slade

Driver Championship Points (After Race 2)

1 Jamie Whincup 279
2 Alex Davison 234
3 Shane van Gisbergen 210
4 Mark Winterbottom 192
5 David Reynolds 174
6 Michael Caruso 171
7 Fabian Coulthard 150
8 Jonathon Webb 147
9 Craig Lowndes 138
10 Jason Bright 138
11 Steve Owen 129
12 James Courtney 127
13 Will Davison 126
14 Greg Murphy 126
15 Lee Holdsworth 123
16 Steven Johnson 123
17 Jason Bargwanna 117
18 Rick Kelly 114
19 Tim Slade 111
20 Paul Dumbrell 108
21 Garth Tander 102
22 Warren Luff 90
23 Dean Fiore 84
24 Todd Kelly 78
25 Karl Reindler 72
26 Tony D'Alberto 51
27 Russell Ingall 33
28 James Moffat 32