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VAN GISBERGEN EIGHTH OVERALL AFTER STUNNING COME-FROM-BEHIND WINTON DRIVE
Young gun Shane van Gisbergen is now eighth overall and top Kiwi in the V8 Supercar points standings after a standout performance at the fourth round of the 2009 series at Benalla's Winton Raceway over the weekend.
After being second quickest and one of only two drivers to circulate under the circuit lap record on Dunlop's new SP Sport Maxx Sprint tyre in the second practice session on Friday, the 19-year-old from Auckland's Manukau City came back from an early crash in the first qualifying session to storm from 27th place on the grid to an amazing sixth at the chequered flag in the first race of the weekend on Saturday.
Then after just missing out on a spot in the top ten (he was 11th just 0:00.0064 of a second behind James Courtney in tenth) in the second qualifying session on Sunday morning he salvaged a 12th place finish in the race after falling back as far as 23rd when a problem with a wheel nut slowed his pit stop.
Both races were won by Craig Lowndes with teammate Jamie Whincup second on Saturday and fellow Ford driver Mark Winterbottom second on Sunday.
The results see Whincup retain his overall points lead with Will Davison second for Holden and Steve Johnson third in another Ford, but Kiwis Jason Richards and Fabian Coulthard slipping back behind van Gisbergen for ninth and tenth places respectively.
The weekend obviously had its highs and its lows for van Gisbergen and the Stone Brothers Racing team. And though pleased with his come-from-behind performance in the first race van Gisbergen says that he and the team are going to have to work out how to keep improving the SP Tools car in the vital last stages of each qualifying session.
"Overall it was a pretty solid weekend in that we got good points and and came away with any penalties or drive throughs but we certainly need to find something in qualifying. We always seem to be quick in practice but the other teams seem to find that little bit extra when it comes to qualifying."
Predictably the hard-charging young van Gisbergen loved the new high-grip Dunlop Sport Maxx tyre, using it to spectacular effect in practice in Friday.
"It's great," he said this morning, "there's heaps more grip everywhere and while it's at its best it makes the car a lot better to drive as well."
And that early crash in qualifying?
"Yes, " he says, " I pushed a bit hard into Turn 5 and went off. The front end (nose cone) of the car came off when I went through a ditch and though we were able to get it back to the pits and back out onto the track I only managed two more laps before the end of the session."
Fortunately teams can nominate when they can use the new, stickier, Sport Maxx compound tyres so Stone Brothers Racing brought the SP Tools Ford Falcon in after just three laps in the first race.
Though he had already made up 11 positions on the first lap and another on the second van Gisbergen picked off one and sometimes two or three spots a lap after the pit stop until he was in sixth place when the chequered flag came out.
Next up is a full day's test at Queensland International Raceway at Ipswich on May 14 before the team starts packing for the long trip south to the fifth round of the 2009 V8 Superior series at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania over the May 30-31 weekend.
Ends
2009 V8 Supercar Series Rnd 4 Winton Motor Raceway Benalla Victoria Australia Fri-Sun May 01-03
Practice 2
1. Jamie Whincup 13 1:22.1676R
2. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon) 1:22.3921r
3. Craig Lowndes 1:22.7440
4. Steven Richards 1:22.7965
5. Todd Kelly 1:23.0423
6. Rick Kelly 1:23.3465
7. Michael Patrizi 1:23.6841
8. Paul Dumbrell 1:25.1333
9. James Courtney 1:25.1669
10. Mark Winterbottom 1:25.2174
Qualifying 1
1. Craig Lowndes 1:23.3646*
2. Steven Richards 1:23.4261
3. Jamie Whincup 1:23.4457
4. Lee Holdsworth 1:23.4474
5. James Courtney 1:23.4825
6. Mark Winterbottom 1:23.5171
7. Fabian Coulthard 1:23.5494
8. Michael Caruso 1:23.6167
9. Garth Tander 1:23.7006
10. Todd Kelly 1:23.7100
also
27. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon) 1:24.8545
Race 1
1. Craig Lowndes
2. Jamie Whincup
3. Steven Richards
4. Rick Kelly
5. Cameron McConville
6. Shane van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon)
7. Will Davison
8. Garth Tander
9. Russell Ingall
10. Michael Caruso
Qualifying 2
1. Jamie Whincup 1:23.1687*
2. Mark Winterbottom 1:23.4086
3. Craig Lowndes 1:23.4127
4. Garth Tander 1:23.4277
5. Paul Dumbrell 1:23.7023
6. Fabian Coulthard 1:23.7118
7. Lee Holdsworth 1:23.8328
8. Rick Kelly 1:23.8455
9. Will Davison 1:23.8694
10. James Courtney 1:23.9809
11. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon) 1:23.9873
Race 2
1. Craig Lowndes
2. Mark Winterbottom
3. Garth Tander
4. Paul Dumbrell
5. Will Davison
6. James Courtney
7. Rick Kelly
8. David Reynolds
9. Marcus Marshall
10. Jason Bargwanna
11. Russell Ingall
12. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon)
Series points after Rnd 4 of 15
1. Jamie Whincup 804
2. Will Davison 690
3. Steven Johnson 573
4. Lee Holdsworth 534
5. Rick Kelly 531
6. Garth Tander 504
7. Craig Lowndes 501
8. Shane van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon) 453
9. Jason Richards 417
10. Fabian Coulthard 414
11. Steven Richards 399
12. Mark Winterbottom 396
13. Cameron McConville 378
14. James Courtney 374
15. Paul Dumbrell 372
16. Alex Davison 354
17. David Reynolds 342
18. Russell Ingall 332
19. Jason Bright 297
20. Michael Caruso 291
21. Greg Murphy 264
22. Tony D'Alberto 258
23. Todd Kelly 252
24. Dale Wood 243
25. Michael Patrizi 216
26. Marcus Marshall 201
27. Jack Perkins 198
28. Dean Fiore 183
29. Jason Bargwanna 150
30. Tim Slade 105
VAN GISBERGEN EIGHTH OVERALL AFTER STUNNING COME-FROM-BEHIND WINTON DRIVE
Young gun Shane van Gisbergen is now eighth overall and top Kiwi in the V8 Supercar points standings after a standout performance at the fourth round of the 2009 series at Benalla's Winton Raceway over the weekend.
After being second quickest and one of only two drivers to circulate under the circuit lap record on Dunlop's new SP Sport Maxx Sprint tyre in the second practice session on Friday, the 19-year-old from Auckland's Manukau City came back from an early crash in the first qualifying session to storm from 27th place on the grid to an amazing sixth at the chequered flag in the first race of the weekend on Saturday.
Then after just missing out on a spot in the top ten (he was 11th just 0:00.0064 of a second behind James Courtney in tenth) in the second qualifying session on Sunday morning he salvaged a 12th place finish in the race after falling back as far as 23rd when a problem with a wheel nut slowed his pit stop.
Both races were won by Craig Lowndes with teammate Jamie Whincup second on Saturday and fellow Ford driver Mark Winterbottom second on Sunday.
The results see Whincup retain his overall points lead with Will Davison second for Holden and Steve Johnson third in another Ford, but Kiwis Jason Richards and Fabian Coulthard slipping back behind van Gisbergen for ninth and tenth places respectively.
The weekend obviously had its highs and its lows for van Gisbergen and the Stone Brothers Racing team. And though pleased with his come-from-behind performance in the first race van Gisbergen says that he and the team are going to have to work out how to keep improving the SP Tools car in the vital last stages of each qualifying session.
"Overall it was a pretty solid weekend in that we got good points and and came away with any penalties or drive throughs but we certainly need to find something in qualifying. We always seem to be quick in practice but the other teams seem to find that little bit extra when it comes to qualifying."
Predictably the hard-charging young van Gisbergen loved the new high-grip Dunlop Sport Maxx tyre, using it to spectacular effect in practice in Friday.
"It's great," he said this morning, "there's heaps more grip everywhere and while it's at its best it makes the car a lot better to drive as well."
And that early crash in qualifying?
"Yes, " he says, " I pushed a bit hard into Turn 5 and went off. The front end (nose cone) of the car came off when I went through a ditch and though we were able to get it back to the pits and back out onto the track I only managed two more laps before the end of the session."
Fortunately teams can nominate when they can use the new, stickier, Sport Maxx compound tyres so Stone Brothers Racing brought the SP Tools Ford Falcon in after just three laps in the first race.
Though he had already made up 11 positions on the first lap and another on the second van Gisbergen picked off one and sometimes two or three spots a lap after the pit stop until he was in sixth place when the chequered flag came out.
Next up is a full day's test at Queensland International Raceway at Ipswich on May 14 before the team starts packing for the long trip south to the fifth round of the 2009 V8 Superior series at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania over the May 30-31 weekend.
Ends
2009 V8 Supercar Series Rnd 4 Winton Motor Raceway Benalla Victoria Australia Fri-Sun May 01-03
Practice 2
1. Jamie Whincup 13 1:22.1676R
2. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon) 1:22.3921r
3. Craig Lowndes 1:22.7440
4. Steven Richards 1:22.7965
5. Todd Kelly 1:23.0423
6. Rick Kelly 1:23.3465
7. Michael Patrizi 1:23.6841
8. Paul Dumbrell 1:25.1333
9. James Courtney 1:25.1669
10. Mark Winterbottom 1:25.2174
Qualifying 1
1. Craig Lowndes 1:23.3646*
2. Steven Richards 1:23.4261
3. Jamie Whincup 1:23.4457
4. Lee Holdsworth 1:23.4474
5. James Courtney 1:23.4825
6. Mark Winterbottom 1:23.5171
7. Fabian Coulthard 1:23.5494
8. Michael Caruso 1:23.6167
9. Garth Tander 1:23.7006
10. Todd Kelly 1:23.7100
also
27. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon) 1:24.8545
Race 1
1. Craig Lowndes
2. Jamie Whincup
3. Steven Richards
4. Rick Kelly
5. Cameron McConville
6. Shane van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon)
7. Will Davison
8. Garth Tander
9. Russell Ingall
10. Michael Caruso
Qualifying 2
1. Jamie Whincup 1:23.1687*
2. Mark Winterbottom 1:23.4086
3. Craig Lowndes 1:23.4127
4. Garth Tander 1:23.4277
5. Paul Dumbrell 1:23.7023
6. Fabian Coulthard 1:23.7118
7. Lee Holdsworth 1:23.8328
8. Rick Kelly 1:23.8455
9. Will Davison 1:23.8694
10. James Courtney 1:23.9809
11. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon) 1:23.9873
Race 2
1. Craig Lowndes
2. Mark Winterbottom
3. Garth Tander
4. Paul Dumbrell
5. Will Davison
6. James Courtney
7. Rick Kelly
8. David Reynolds
9. Marcus Marshall
10. Jason Bargwanna
11. Russell Ingall
12. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon)
Series points after Rnd 4 of 15
1. Jamie Whincup 804
2. Will Davison 690
3. Steven Johnson 573
4. Lee Holdsworth 534
5. Rick Kelly 531
6. Garth Tander 504
7. Craig Lowndes 501
8. Shane van Gisbergen (SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon) 453
9. Jason Richards 417
10. Fabian Coulthard 414
11. Steven Richards 399
12. Mark Winterbottom 396
13. Cameron McConville 378
14. James Courtney 374
15. Paul Dumbrell 372
16. Alex Davison 354
17. David Reynolds 342
18. Russell Ingall 332
19. Jason Bright 297
20. Michael Caruso 291
21. Greg Murphy 264
22. Tony D'Alberto 258
23. Todd Kelly 252
24. Dale Wood 243
25. Michael Patrizi 216
26. Marcus Marshall 201
27. Jack Perkins 198
28. Dean Fiore 183
29. Jason Bargwanna 150
30. Tim Slade 105
