Disappointment for Morris & Gurr at Bathurst
11/10/2004 17:30 (Press Release) -
Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore drivers Paul Morris and Alan Gurr made a superb start before crashing out of today's Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 V8 Supercar Championship race at Bathurst.
Morris drove the first stint in the team's VY Commodore, starting the 161-lap race from seventh position on the grid. He was sixth after the opening lap, and then moved up to fifth on lap two, and fourth on lap nine.
The 36-year-old Gold Coast driver improved to third on lap 18, and remained in the top three until the end of his stint on lap 31. Gurr took over behind the wheel after the team's first pit-stop, starting in 21st place and moving up to 11th by lap 50.
However, the 22-year-old spun across the top of the Mount Panorama circuit on lap 51 and crashed into a trackside barrier. The left side and left-rear of the car was badly damaged by the impact and the team was forced to withdraw from the 10th round of the championship.
The differential housing, chassis rails, fuel tank, oil tank, and left-front suspension were destroyed in the accident. Gurr was limping immediately after the crash, but did not suffer serious injuries.
Morris scored no championship points and his series tally remained on 861. He dropped from 13th to 20th in the championship.
Greg Murphy and team-mate Rick Kelly won the race for the second succeive year in a Kmart Commodore in a time of 6-hrs 29-mins 36.205-secs, ahead of Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton in a Ford Performance Racing Falcon. Jason Bright, driving a PWR Commodore, clocked the fastest lap of the race with a time of 2-mins 8.897-secs.
Marcos Ambrose, who drove a Pirtek Falcon with Greg Ritter, finished fourth and retained the championship lead with an improved tally of 1,667 points, 55 ahead of Bright. The 11th round of the championship is the Gillette V8 Supercar Challenge, held during the Lexmark Indy 300 meeting on the Gold Coast from October 21-24.
PAUL MORRIS QUOTES: "The car was really good today. I got away with the front group and was able to run with them. We were planning a four-stop strategy and we had the fuel conservation to do it. It was disappointing to go out of the race – another few laps and we would have been back up into the top three or four once the pit-stops sorted themselves out. There is a lot of work to do before Indy. Until we get the car back to the workshop we don't know if it can be fixed in time before the races on the Gold Coast. If not we have another body shell, so either way we will be racing there."
ALAN GURR QUOTES: "Paul (Morris) did a great job all week with qualifying and in the race. When I got into the car I was behind a few cars and then I started moving forward. The crash happened when I got into 'clean air'. I was pushing on and the car understeered and I tried to correct it. The back came around and the car spun before going into the wall. My left knee hit the dash. It was sore for a while, but I'm okay."
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