POINTS BUT LITTLE PLEASURE ON FIRST DAY AT FINAL
Crossing the finish line in tenth place brought points but little pleasure for SP Tools-backed Stone Brothers Racing's Shane van Gisbergen on the first day of competition at the Sydney Telstra 500, the final round of the 2009 V8 Supercar championship series in Sydney on Saturday.
As Holden's Garth Tander put on a dominant performance up front on the narrow and technical 3.4 km street circuit round Homebush's Olympic Park centre yet another potential podium finish went begging for van Gisbergen who qualified 15th but was running comfortably in fourth place when he was left with nowhere to go when third placed Cam McConville went into the tyre wall at Turn 8.
Fortunately van Gisbergen managed to avoid contact with the prone car but the incident cost him valuable time and track position.
After being third fastest on Friday van Gisbergen showed yet again how quickly he can learn a circuit. During Saturday's punishing 250 km race he also provided one of the highlights - a battle for position with Russell Ingall.
Veteran Ingall got past with a daring, ultra high-speed round-the-outside pass on the start/finish straight. But van Gisbergen regained the position almost immediately with a cool, clinical re-pass through one of the following corner complexes.
Shane van Gisbergen – Driver, SP Tools Racing Car #9
“We qualified badly, it wasn’t for any particular reason, the car felt good I just didn’t have the speed over the kerbs.
“In the race the car was good and looked after its tyres well. In the first half of the race we made up some good ground and we had a great strategy in place as well.
“After our second stop we ended up coming out about third position behind James [Courtney] then McConville went wide when James passed him and went into the fence and I was left with nowhere to go. I elected to hit the fence instead of hitting him, I backed up and by then we were way back, the incident ruined our race.
“We were looking pretty strong so it’s pretty gut wrenching to think where we could have been.
“The way the car handled the race today is encouraging, we can definitely be back up there tomorrow fighting for a podium.”
Ross Stone – SBR Team Principal
“Overall a frustrating day because the #9 Falcon was quick enough to finish on the podium and unfortunately Shane got caught out by McConville touching the wall and he was either going to take him clean out or take evasive action which is what happened. "
Sydney Telstra 500, Race 1 250kms (74 Laps) – RESULTS
1. #2 Garth Tander
2. #5 Mark Winterbottom
3. #25 Jason Bright
4. #33 Lee Holdsworth
5. #1 Jamie Whincup
6. #34 Michael Caruso
7. #3 Jason Bargwanna
8. #6 Steven Richards
9. #15 Rick Kelly
10. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen
Sydney Telstra 500, Top Ten Shootout – RESULTS
1. #2 Garth Tander 1:29.8489
2. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1:30.3376
3. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:30.3631
4. #34 Michael Caruso 1:30.3938
5. #14 Cameron McConville 1:30.4007
6. #51 Greg Murphy 1:30.4018
7. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:30.4168
8. #18 James Courtney 1:30.5638
9. #10 Paul Dumbrell 1:30.8739
10. #24 David Reynolds 1:30.6887
Sydney Telstra 500, Qualifying – RESULTS
1. #2 Garth Tander 1:29.5840
2. #24 David Reynolds 1:29.6478
3. #18 James Courtney 1:29.7457
4. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1:29.7802
5. #10 Paul Dumbrell 1:29.7807
6. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:29.8795
7. #34 Michael Caruso 1:29.9817
8. #51 Greg Murphy 1:30.0011
9. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:30.0413
10. #14 Cameron McConville 1:30.0555
15. #9 Shane van Gisbergen 1:30.2261
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