HYL: Chaos reins as the clouds pour!
15/9/2003 12:37 (Press Release) -
The crew of the Holden Young Lions racing team had an early start to Race day, staying at the circuit until 2am making some set-up changes and also trying everything they could to ensure the electrical problems were solved for Race day.
Their efforts were not in vain and come the early morning warm-up the car ran like clockwork. It ran as high as eighth before changing drivers and concentration on full tank tuning. Both drivers are extremely happy with the feel and balance of the car and hope that they can finish in a good position in the race.
Dale Brede – “The car has undergone a vast improvement overnight and all the electrical gremlins are gone.”
Tony Ricciardello - “The car now has much better balance under brakes and the engine feels pretty strong for the race.”
Come the race and the HYL car line up in the grid ready to make a steady move up the field. All was going well and we were running in the twenties when the rain came on lap 39.
With the fickle weather, the team decided to take a gamble and stay out on slicks to see if the clouds passed. What looked to be a great decision a few laps later proved to be the wrong call as a second shower came and set in.
As a result the team lost a significant amount of time and a number of laps as driver Tony Ricciardello struggled with the massive loss of grip. This situation was only exacerbated with a couple of cross-country excursions caused by the treacherous conditions.
“It was really, really hairy out there on slicks, while looking back it was obviously the wrong decision and with nothing to loose it was worth taking the gamble," Ricciardello said.
By the time the fuel window meant the team had to pit, the track had developed a dry line and as Dale Brede jumped into car all the teams were changing back to slicks. As Dale regained the circuit he found just how difficult it was with a minor off at turn one. This corner was due to play a major role in the race just laps later as #4 car that led the early race also went off at the same spot and was stranded in the sand trap.
Dale drove steadily in the intervening period and clocked the team’s fastest lap on lap 78 with a pacey 1:13.53. Unfortunately due to the time lost in the wet it meant that the team was no longer racing for positions and having to give way to lapping traffic slowing the progress.
As the team was just entering the second pit window the heavens opened up again but this time the team immediately pulled the car in for wet tyres and sent Dale back out. Just a few laps later Dale was an unwilling saviour for the Youlden car as it lost control and slid into the Young Lions mobile again at turn one.
Whilst there was only minor damage, the impact meant Dale went off but the other car steadied itself and went on to finish second.
“The car felt pretty good and we didn’t miss a beat in terms of reliability. We will go testing before Bathurst and search for a little more pace and hopefully a better finish," Brede said.
Just laps later a massive hail shower meant the safety car had to come out for unsafe track conditions. The subsequent restart saw a final dash for the flag with a wet track and a safe and solid finish for the Young Lions Team.
--Holden Young Lions press release
|
|
