HRT Race One Report - PLACEMAKERS NZ V8 INTERNATIONAL
19/4/2005 13:53 (Press Release) -
PLACEMAKERS NZ V8 INTERNATIONAL – DAY 2
Pukekohe Park Raceway, New Zealand
April 16, 2005
Weather: Fine, sunny, 22 degrees
Qualifying (2 x 20 mins split session)
Fastest time: 55.4789sec
7th: Mark Skaife (#2 Holden Commodore VZ) 55.6629 sec, 13 laps
21st: Todd Kelly (#22 Holden Commodore VZ) 56.0513, 5 laps
Top 10 Shootout (1 flying lap)
Fastest time: 55.7367sec
8th: Mark Skaife (#2 Holden Commodore VZ) 56.1899sec
Race 1 (36 laps)
3rd: Mark Skaife
8th: Todd Kelly
Race notes
- Mark Skaife started from 7th, Todd Kelly started from 20th
- Mark’s car bogged down off the starting line, lost several positions
- Todd reached 15th by Lap 3, Mark reached 9th
- Todd pitted for rear tyres on Lap 6, rejoined in 9th placing
- Mark pitted for left-side tyres on Lap 9, rejoined in 3rd placing
- Todd reached 6th placing on Lap 26 but succumbed to cars with fresher tyres to finish 8th; Mark finished 3rd
Mark Skaife:
“That was a very good result based on a pretty average Top 10 (Shootout). When you qualify where we did, that was probably about as good as it gets. The car was pretty good, though certainly not good enough. We’ll make some changes tonight and try to make it better. I lost a massive amount of ground off the start, I would have lost 10 spots probably. I jumped pretty well, it was actually going, then there was just this massive flatspot. I had to dip the clutch just to get going, and seven or eight cars got past me for sure. We did a good job in the pits and we made a bit of ground there. The resurfacing has gripped the place up, it’s made the cars flow very well and for that many cars to under the lap record is massive.”
Todd Kelly:
“It was a pretty hairy race, I was a bit buggered towards the end there, I was just gripping the wheel so hard and trying to get back up there. There was a few hairy moments, I went around the outside at Turn 1 with a few cars, but there was just so much dust and stuff there, I was a bit of a speedway car all the way around and nearly looped it. The car needs a bit of work and I would have liked to have hung on to those last few spots at the end there, but we’ve got a good place to start from tomorrow, better than 20th.”
Release Date: 16/04/2005
Holden Racing Team
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