Toll HSV Dealer Team’s pair of sharp new VE Commodores will hold the key to its V8 Supercar Championship defence starting at the first round of the season, the Clipsal 500, in Adelaide this weekend.
2006 Champion Rick Kelly and team-mate Garth Tander are quietly confident the tight-knit Toll HSV outfit can take up where they left off last season after their black and orange Commodores set the pace among the new Holdens in testing at Winton last week, despite running on old tyres for the entire session.
Tander reported that his freshly minted VE felt faster at Winton than his pre-raced VZ Commodore at the same stage last season, offering plenty of promise for a big year. However, the team believes it will need to be quickly back to its best form in Friday’s practice and qualifying to match any gains by its main rivals over the summer. According to Kelly, the transition from VZ to VE should be relatively painless as the new car drives similarly to the old racer and responds to engineering changes in a similar way.
“If our new car reacts to the Adelaide circuit like our 2006 car, we should be in for a good meeting, †he said. Last year, Kelly set up his championship run with a podium at the Clipsal 500, despite a controversial drive-through penalty in Race 2 for allegedly jumping the start from the front row. The penalty plunged him from the lead to 21st place, but he carved back through the field in one of the drives of the season, making up 18 places to finish third in the race and second for the round.
Kelly, who revels in street races, believes that particular performance was critical to his championship tilt last year, and that he needs a similar effort this year to put his title defence on track. He says this year’s new points system will have little effect on his championship strategy this season, and drivers will still need to finish in the lead group as often as possible and stay out of trouble to make the grade.
Tander, who many pundits say is Kelly’s biggest rival for the 2007 title, was exceptionally fast at Clipsal last year, but his efforts were cruelled by a sticking wheel nut that cost a painful 25 seconds in his Race 1 pitstop. The mishap plunged him from second place to 16th. He fought back to 8th in Race 1, and then 4th in Race 2, to come equal fourth for the round. Tander, whose car was badly damaged when he was punted into the wall at Clipsal in 2005, says the main objectives at the ferocious Adelaide circuit are a bag of points and a straight car. “We will be looking to go there and have a fast car this time around and try to get through without any mistakes and without too many dramas, †he said. “The car feels a little better than last year’s car did at this time of the season, so I am quietly confident we can go to Clipsal and do a good job with the car straight out. â€
This season, the V8 Championship Series has been extended to 14 rounds in the absence of an appearance at the Australian Grand Prix. Changes to the format this year include a new qualifying format run over three knock-out sessions, and a new points system that only rewards cars that finish in the front half of the field.
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