The 26-year-old was ill overnight and was still ‘under the weather' with the bug during practice today. After treatment from medical staff he is off to bed early to rest up and recuperate for tomorrow's qualifying and opening race.
Will Davison was fastest in the final practice session in New Zealand today ahead of Jason Richards and Alex Davison.
JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD
Todd Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
QUESTION: You must be pleased with this strong start to the weekend for Jack Daniel's Racing?
"The Jack Daniel's Commodore was good in the first session and we tried a completely different set-up for the second session and the car was still good, even better in a lot of places," said Todd Kelly.
"In the final session, again, the car was good and we just ran out of tyres because we also ran in Part A (of practice), which a lot of other guys didn't.
"We started to lose too much grip. We could have had a crack at doing a better time but we didn't want to put another set of tyres on. We wanted to focus on qualifying.
"So we got another set of brakes roaded to make sure we are right for tomorrow.
"When we throw another set of tyres at it tomorrow the car should be extremely competitive."
QUESTION: You were fastest in Part A and Part B of practice today, both sessions where there were tyre bundles on the back chicane. For Part C the tyres were removed. Do you think the tyres will be back tomorrow?
"Well, if they leave those tyres off the chicane it will be fun," said Todd Kelly.
"It will be a toss up between getting pole or tearing the front of the car out because anybody can go through there probably without braking and drive straight over it.
"If the tyres aren't there and you want to put the thing on the front row you are going to have to do that.
"It's a pretty scary thought if they let the qualifying session start without them.
"You're going to have to go over it as hard as you can otherwise you will be nowhere.
"The Jack Daniel's Commodore has been fast all day. Whether the tyres are there (on the back chicane) or not isn't really going to affect our performance.
"If they're not there I'll go as hard as anybody else through the chicane. We'll just see what happens."
Rick Kelly - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"The Jack Daniel's Commodore feels quite good," said Rick Kelly.
"I was ill overnight, which has cost us a bit of time. Unfortunately I don't feel that great in the car.
"As a young team we are trying to move forward quite quickly and with that I've tried a couple of things on the car and that's been a big learning curve.
"We've been trying to get used to those changes and they've proved to be pretty successful at the moment, which is quite promising for this weekend/.
"The last bit of the session a lot of guys took advantage of the back chicane there and the lack of tyres (on the kerbs).
"We're pretty close to those guys and I think we'll be able to get up there tomorrow."
RESULTS: Practice Segment C
No tyre bundles on back chicane
1. #22 Will Davison 1:23.5620
2. #8 Jason Richards 1:23.7711
3. #4 Alex Davison 1:23.8697
4. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:23.8735
5. #39 Russell Ingall 1:23.8771
6. #51 Greg Murphy 1:23.9287
7. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen 1:23.9843
8. #77 Marcus Marshall 1:23.9898
9. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:24.0711
10. #10 Paul Dumbrell 1:24.0955
15. #7 Todd Kelly 1:24.2285
20. #15 Rick Kelly 1:24.4916
RESULTS: Practice Segment B
Tyre bundles on back chicane
1. #7 Todd Kelly 1:24.5948
2. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen 1:24.6691
3. #22 Will Davison 1:24.7440
4. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:24.7750
5. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:24.8216
6. #51 Greg Murphy 1:24.8464
7. #77 Marcus Marshall 1:24.8861
8. #18 James Courtney 1:24.9224
9. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1:25.1360
10. #11 Jack Perkins 1:25.1623
15. #15 Rick Kelly 1:25.3416
JACK DANIEL'S RACING DRIVERS AT HAMILTON 400:
Rick Kelly - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
2008 Qualifying: Third
2008 Race One: Second
2008 Race Two: Sixth
2008 Race Three: Fourth
Todd Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
2008 Qualifying: 19th
2008 Race One: Eighth
2008 Race Two: 19th
2008 Race Three: 15th
HAMILTON 400 DETAILS:
Circuit: Hamilton Street Circuit
Location: Hamilton, NZL
Circuit Length: 3.4 kilometres
Format: x2 59-lap races
2008 Polesitter: Steven Richards
2008 Race 1 Winner: Garth Tander
2008 Race 2 Winner: Garth Tander
2008 Race 3 Winner: Garth Tander
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
All times are local New Zealand Time
Friday 17 April
12:25pm - 1:00pm: Practice 1
1:15pm - 2:05pm: Practice 2
2:45pm - 3:35pm: Practice 3
Saturday 21 March
11:00am - 11:40am: Qualifying (for Race 1)
11:50am - 12:25pm: Top 10 Shootout
3:05pm: Race 1 (59 laps)
Sunday 22 March
1:00pm - 1:20pm: Qualifying (for Race 2)
2:35pm: Race 2 (59 laps)
TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Times subject to amendment - please check local guides.
Saturday March 21
2:00pm - 4:30pm
Sunday March 22
12:00pm - 3:00pm
