R8S QUAL - Lowndes on pole in tight tussle
28/7/2001 17:41 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Ford hero Craig Lowndes has snared pole position for tomorrow’s crucial eighth round of the Shell Series at Sydney’s Oran Park Raceway, after an exceptionally tight day of qualifying.
With the top 26 cars all within a second, the top ten within a couple of tenths, Lowndes pounced on pole position during the Top Ten Shootout after earlier qualifying in fourth.
Lowndes steered his Gibson Falcon to a 1:08.06min lap late in the shootout, a time the three drivers that followed failed to beat.
He’ll share the front row with the Holden Racing Team’s Mark Skaife, who was .16 slower than Lowndes on his hot lap.
"It was a great lap, although I did have a small moment on the very first corner," Lowndes said.
"Tomorrow will be very tough, especially with the weather remaining unpredictable. (But) our team is very good no matter what the conditions, so I'm confident of getting my first round win for Ford.”
Steven Johnson set a cracking pace in qualifying, clocking a 1:07.91min flier late in the session to clinch provisional pole.
But it was David Besnard who produced the day’s big surprise, booking himself a birth in his first top ten shootout of the year with a sensational 1:07.92min lap. The time was just .01sec slower than Johnson and the second-fastest of the day.
The Stone Brothers rookie pumped out another brilliant lap in the shootout to grab third on tomorrow’s grid – easily his best qualifying performance of the year.
"The car has been very good today and that gave me the confidence to do a good lap," Besnard said.
"I'm looking forward to racing at the front – my race pace has been good this year. Qualifying is now behind me – I want to now show that I can do the same in the races.”
Johnson could only manage fifth in the shootout, but is well placed ahead of tomorrow’s two 45-minute races.
"It was a shocker,“ Johnson said, “and I'm probably lucky to be fifth, but if I can get two good starts tomorrow I'll be happy."
While K-Mart racer Greg Murphy failed to make the shootout, his team-mate Todd Kelly was a prolific player throughout the day. He climbed three positions on the time sheets in the shootout to claim fourth.
Castrol Perkins’ Russell Ingall took sixth in the shootout, ahead of Jason Bright, John Bowe and Garth Tander.
Local hero, Lansvale Racing’s Cameron McConville retained his tenth position on the grid in the shootout, after topping the time sheets in practice earlier in the day.
Steven Ellery was another to make an early impression in practice but, along with Paul Radisich, was bumped from the top ten late in qualifying. Ellery will start from twelfth, one better than ‘the Rat’.
Just a few tenths off the pace, though languishing on the bottom half of the grid, are high-profile names the likes of Marcos Ambrose (16th), Jason Bargwanna (24th) and last-round winner, Paul Morris (23rd).
Ford-Tickford Racing struggled to find anything resembling a competitive set-up, with Glenn Seton back in 21st and Steven Richards fifth-last on the 32-car grid.
In a pre-enduro drive for the Big Kev Racing outfit, British Touring Car ace Matt Neal qualified in 29th position.
The first 45-minute race (36 laps), with compulsory tyre change, is scheduled for 11:30am tomorrow morning.
**QUALIFYING - TOP TEN**
1st STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:07.9145min]
2nd DAVID BESNARD (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [1:07.9281]
3rd MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:07.9811]
4th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon [1:07.9886]
5th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore [1:08.0021]
6th JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:08.0350]
7th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:08.0812]
8th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [1:08.1080]
9th GARTH TANDER (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore [1:08.1216]
10th CAMERON McCONVILLE (Lansvale Smash Repairs) - VX Commodore [1:08.1491]
**TOP TEN SHOOTOUT**
1st CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon [1:08.0671min]
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:08.2295]
3rd DAVID BESNARD (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon [1:08.6557]
4th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:08.7935]
5th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:08.8438]
6th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore [1:08.9988]
7th JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:09.0888]
8th JOHN BOWE (CAT Racing) - AU Falcon [1:09.6301]
9th GARTH TANDER (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore [1:09.7124]
10th CAMERON McCONVILLE (Lansvale Smash Repairs) - VX Commodore [1:09.7857]
For complete practice/qualifying results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?29/07/2001.ORAN
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