Todd Kelly also sees the Queensland event as an opportunity for the team to try more new components on their Jack Daniel's Commodores, as the crew strives to improve both the speed and the reliability of their cars.
JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD
Rick Kelly - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"Leading into the endurance races is a very important time for Jack Daniel's Racing," said Rick Kelly.
"The Championship is a long way off for us to achieve this year and although we would have loved to have won it, it wasn't our aim this year.
"Our aim was to set the team up and move towards the front as quickly as we could and I think we've been able to achieve a lot of the goals that we set ourselves to meet along the way.
"Our big aim for the year was to have a good shot at winning the endurance races, so with Queensland being the last round before Phillip Island and Bathurst, we're looking at working towards the enduros in any way we can.
"We're working hard in the workshop and making sure that all the bits and pieces on our two Jack Daniel's Commodores are similar so that we can work closely together and try different components on the cars that we think will assist us at those two long distance events.
"In the past, Queensland hasn't been great as far as results go, because I've had a bit of bad luck up there, although we have had pace there. We just haven't been able to turn that into results, so we would like to be able to do that this year.
"At Queensland you generally have to run quite a different set-up to anywhere else and that will be a good test for myself and ‘Swenno' (#15 Race Engineer David Swenson), and Todd and Barry (Ryan, #7 Race Engineer), in terms of being such a young team and having to set our cars up in a different way to ensure they work well."
Todd Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"We've already started to do a fair bit of design work in changing and improving our cars," said Todd Kelly.
"So again there are a few things we are going to try on both Jack Daniel's Commodores at Queensland. We've hopefully found our reliability in our engines and other things now, so we just want to have a real good, clean weekend in the lead up to the endurance events.
"We've both had glimpses of speed at the last event at Sandown and we're now qualifying better. We're just creeping up and getting a bit of momentum for this second half of the year. So we're looking forward to good things in Queensland."
JACK DANIEL'S RACING DRIVERS AT QR:
Rick Kelly - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
2008 Qualifying: 14th
2008 Race One: Eighth
2008 Race Two: DNF
2008 Race Three: 13th
Debut: 2001
Events: Eight
Races: 14
Best Qualifying: Fourth (2006)
Top 10 in Qualifying: Three
Best Race Finish: Second (2006)
Top 10 Finish in Race: Seven
Todd Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
2008 Qualifying: 25th
2008 Race One: 19th
2008 Race Two: 13th
2008 Race Three: 12th
Debut: 1999
Events: 11
Races: 19
Best Qualifying: Third (2004)
Top 10 in Qualifying: Three
Best Race Finish: Third (2001 and 2003)
Top 10 Finish in Race: Six
2009 V8 Supercar Championship Standings
Championship Points - After Race 14 of 26
1. Jamie Whincup 1791 points
2. Will Davison 1674
3. Garth Tander 1416
4. Craig Lowndes 1350
5. Steven Johnson 1194
6. Lee Holdsworth 1116
7. Mark Winterbottom 1083
8. Rick Kelly 992
9. Russell Ingall 989
10. Michael Caruso 984
19. Todd Kelly 744
QUEENSLAND HOUSE AND LAND.COM 300 DETAILS:
Circuit: Queensland Raceway
Location: Ipswich, Queensland
Circuit Length: 3.12 kilometres
Format: 33-lap race (Saturday) and 65-lap race (Sunday)
2008 Polesitter: James Courtney
2008 Race 1 Winner: James Courtney
2008 Race 2 Winner: Mark Winterbottom
2008 Race 3 Winner: Mark Winterbottom
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
All times are local Australian Eastern Standard Time
Friday 21 August 2009
12:35pm - 1:10pm: Practice A (Bottom 15 and Co-Drivers)
1:25pm - 2:15pm: Practice B
2:55pm - 3:45pm: Practice C
Saturday 22 August 2009
11:00am - 11:40am: Qualifying (for Race 1)
11:55am - 12:25pm: Top 10 Shootout
4:05pm: Race 1 - Series Race 13 (33 laps)
Sunday 23 August 2009
10:15am - 10:35am: Qualifying (for Race 2)
1:05pm: Race 2 - Series Race 14 (65 laps)
TELEVISION SCHEDULE - SEVEN NETWORK
Times subject to amendment - please check local guides.
Saturday 22 August 2009
2:00pm - 2:30pm (Support Races)
2:30pm - 5:30pm (V8 Supercars)
Sunday 23 August 2009
12:00pm - 3:00pm (V8 Supercars)
