FIGHTING FIFTH FOR BARGWANNA
7/3/2004 10:54 (Press Release) -
Orrcon Racing’s Jason Bargwanna continued his impressive form at the Netscape V8 Supercar support event at the Foster’s Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne today where he was fifth and the highest placed Ford driver.
Following on from his seventh place finish yesterday, Bargwanna held his own on the opening lap of the 19-lap contest to be well inside the top 10.
While Bargwanna continued his charge towards the front , his Larkham Motor Sport teammate, Mark Winterbottom was spun by Mark Noske on the first lap.
On the next lap Bargwanna capitalised on Paul Radisich running wide through turn one to move into sixth.
During the next few laps Bargwanna was being pressured by Rick Kelly for sixth. This battle soon turned into fifth when Marcos Ambrose pitted on lap five.
Bargwanna was shadowed by Kelly lap after lap but even under the immense pressure the Orrcon Racing driver showed good pace setting his fastest lap of the race on lap 10, 0.3 of a second faster than his qualifying lap on Thursday.
Despite some close attention over the closing laps Bargwanna held on gallantly to finish fifth.
“It was an extremely good result and excellent reward for the effort put in by the Orrcon team,” said Bargwanna.
“We made some changes to the car following yesterday’s race which certainly helped our corner and exit speeds.
“The car felt very strong all throughout the race and we will continue to improve the car for tomorrow’s race.
“We still have a bit of work to do to catch the leaders but we are certainly closing in on them.”
After recovering from his spin on the opening lap Winterbottom was running as high as 19th with two laps remaining only to spin his Orrcon Racing Falcon with just over a lap remaining bringing his race to an end.
“The car still has a mysterious problem under brakes that is making it very hard to go deeper in the corners,” said Winterbottom.
“We thought we had fixed the problem so the team will now work to rectify the problem for tomorrow’s race.
“While it is always disappointing to be finding problems I am happy we are sorting them out this weekend rather than in two weeks time in Adelaide.”
Jason Bright won the race ahead of Steven Richards and Greg Murphy.
The third and final race of the V8 Supercar race will be held tomorrow morning at 10:35am over 10-laps around the 5.303km Albert Park circuit.
Netscape V8 Supercar Race 2
1. Jason Bright
2. Steven Richards
3. Greg Murphy
4. Garth Tander
5. Jason Bargwanna
6. Rick Kelly
7. Simon Wills
8. Cameron McConville
9. Steven Johnson
10. Steven Ellery
11. Paul Morris
12. Paul Weel
13. Russell Ingall
14. Mark Skaife
15. Paul Dumbrell
DNF – Mark Winterbottom
WEEKEND SCHEDULE - AGP
V8 SUPERCARS
Sunday, March 7, 2004
10.35am-11.10am ˆ Race 3 (10 Laps)
TV TELECAST - NETWORK TEN
Sunday - March 7, 2004
10am-5pm (EDST) - 9am-4pm (Queensland)
Release Date: 6/03/2004
Orrcon Racing
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