Supercheap Auto Racing’s Russell Ingall replicated his recent Hamilton practice form, setting the fourth quickest time at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth today for the fourth round of the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series - the BigPond 400.
Ingall was just 0.19s slower than reigning V8 champ Garth Tander who set the quickest time in his Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore - Ford drivers Steven Richards and Craig Lowndes separating the two Holden drivers.
Paul Morris was 20th best in the second SCAR Commodore, just seven-tenths slower than Tander in a session that saw 26 cars separated by less than one second.
Qualifying for the BigPond 400 begins at 10.50 tomorrow morning (WA time), with the first of the weekend’s three 50 lap races starting at 2.00pm.
Russell Ingall, #39 Supercheap Auto Racing Holden Commodore VE:
“Qualifying is one thing, but around here you’ve got to have a car that lives on old tyres and today we worked hard at that and achieved it. We concentrated on making the car’s race setup good, using just one set of tyres for most of the session. Qualifying’s still important and we’ve yet to dial the Supercheap Auto Commodore in for that, but that’s a result of not having tested so far this year. The good thing is that we’ve been quick at every track we’ve been too since Eastern Creek, we’ve been consistently fast at a variety of circuits so it shows Sydney wasn’t just a one-off. It’s happy days.”
Paul Morris, #67 Supercheap Auto Racing Holden Commodore VE:
“Today’s been good for the Supercheap Auto team. Early we didn’t really go anywhere, but I was following Russell’s setup and when he started making gains so did I. We were able to keep producing consistent times on old tyres which is great for here. We’ve still got a bit of work to do to get the best out of the ‘greens’, but we’ll sort that out. It’s close, so overall I’m fairly pleased with our progress today.”
2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series, Rd 4 - BigPond 400 (Practice)
1. Garth Tander, Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE
2. Steven Richards, Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon BF
3. Craig Lowndes, Team Vodafone Ford Falcon BF
4. Russell Ingall, Supercheap Auto Racing Holden Commodore VE
5. Mark Winterbottom, Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon BF
6. Rick Kelly, HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore VE
7. Mark Skaife, Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE
8. Lee Holdsworth, Valvoline Cummins Race Team Holden Commodore VE
9. Greg Murphy, Sprint Gas Racing Holden Commodore VE
10. Jamie Whincup, Team Vodafone Ford Falcon BF
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