Caltex Racing’s Russell Ingall and JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney raced their way into the top ten in the final race at Winton Motor Raceway today, securing top ten positions in the championship standings after four rounds of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.
Ingall, who started today from 30th position on the grid following his retirement from race one yesterday, picked up 24 hard-fought positions to finish race three in sixth position.
The Caltex Racing driver made a solid start to race two, gaining three positions on the opening lap and working his way up to the top 20 by lap 11.
Ingall pitted for dry-weather tyres on lap 13 and elected to stick with slicks when the rain returned during the safety car period caused by Lee Holdsworth.
The decision paid off as over a dozen cars pitted to take on wet-weather tyres and Ingall was in tenth position by the restart. He and picked off Jason Bright and John Bowe in the closing stages of the race to finish in eighth position.
The Caltex Racing Falcon started race three from eighth on the grid. Ingall moved to sixth during lap one and maintained position with a solid pit stop on lap 10.
Ingall diced with fifth-placed Craig Lowndes in the final laps of the race, at one stage gaining the upper hand down the main straight. He was unable to make the move stick however and settled for sixth position.
JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney did not find the rural Victorian circuit any more favourable today, see-sawing between the front and back of the field in races two and three.
Courtney started race two from 17th position on the grid and picked his way through to eighth by the end of lap 10. He made his compulsory pit stop for slick tyres on lap 14 but opted to come in for wet tyres during the safety car period on lap 24.
The gamble did not pay off for Courtney, with the rain lasting only a few more laps. The JELD-WEN Motorsport driver was forced to pit again on lap 28 to get back on dry weather tyres and make up as much ground as possible. He finished race two in 15th position.
Race three was more processional for Courtney as he moved up to 12th position before pitting for rear tyres on lap 10. He continued to move up the order, racing to eighth position by the end of the 40-lap race.
SBR’s rollercoaster round ended with Ingall eighth for the round. Courtney brought the JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon home in 13th position overall.
Courtney and Ingall both secured their place in the top ten in the V8 Supercar Championship standings; Courtney is currently in fifth place and Ingall in ninth.
In the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, SBR’s Jonathon Webb made up some ground in race two, finishing in 12th position after starting from 25th on the grid this morning.
Webb’s progress through the field came to a halt in race three however when he was forced to retire on lap seven due to a power steering failure.
Webb finished the round in 20th position; he maintains third position in the series.
Russell Ingall, car #9, Caltex Racing
“We turned a mud pie into a pavlova today.
“It was just a shame that we couldn’t take advantage of the wet race yesterday. We had the pace to win the race and James would have been there too if the circumstances had gone our way.
“We were going to run the same strategy as the JELD-WEN guys, going to dry tyres.
“There was a good chance both of us would have finished in the top three and if you can start from there today, you have every chance of winning the round.
“We even had good pace in the dry today so there are definitely good things happening.
“Coming from the back of the grid twice is pretty hard. We are still not there yet and we can’t pack up and pat ourselves on the back.
“We are still a couple of tenths away from the guys that are winning the championship and we have to find them. We have to step it up. ”
James Courtney, car #4, JELD-WEN Motorsport
“It’s been a trying weekend.
“We had good pace in the JELD-WEN Falcon in the wet and intermediate conditions and we had the gear to pass a lot of cars.
“But with a few calls from the crew not coming off and me not seeing the yellow flag on Saturday we didn’t get the results that we should have.
“I think I passed about 100 cars this weekend so in that way it was a lot of fun. The result wasn’t what I wanted but being able to race hard, make lots of moves and rough things up a bit in the rain was definitely good fun. ”
Jonathon Webb, car #94, Stone Brothers Racing
“We had to recover from the off yesterday when we got caught out by Caruso’s diff oil had to start from 25th today.
“Race two today wasn’t too bad. We got back into the points where we should be and made the best of it.
“We got another curveball in race three however with the power steering failure. It was a pretty disappointing way to finish.
“But the learning curve for us in the category is huge and you can see and feel the improvements every round. While that is happening, it’s got to be a good thing. ”
Ross Stone, Team Manager, Stone Brothers Racing
“It was a weekend of missed opportunities.
“Both the Caltex and JELD-WEN Falcons were quite strong come the racing but with both James and Russell having to start so far back, it’s hard to make something of it from there.
“We have to keep working hard. We will have our third test of the years before Eastern Creek; we really have to produce the goods there.
| 
|