Rick Kelly currently sits seventh in the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series standings and with five top 10 finishes from six races so far this season, he describes his start to the season as 'OK'.
Always hungry for further progress, Rick Kelly is keen to use this weekend to further develop his #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore, to put him in a position to charge for race wins when the championship heads to the ITM Hamilton 400 in New Zealand next month.
JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD
TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"We really are aiming to get a good result this weekend and throw everything we can at it," said Todd Kelly.
"We had a bit of a play with different things at Clipsal and even though the weekend wasn't the best, after we deciphered everything after the event, we actually learned quite a bit.
"So we're going to apply that at the Grand Prix and hopefully have a good run.
"I really enjoy the place. Over the years I've had a reasonably good run there and back in the HRT days I had a few poles and race wins.
"I enjoy driving the track and it really suits my style of driving. If we get the set-up of the Jack Daniel's Commodore right, there is no doubt we will be up there.
"While it's not a championship round it's no different to any other race for me, so I'm going to have a good crack and really enjoy the weekend."
RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"We definitely want to keep the Jack Daniel's Commodores as straight as possible but right now we still have a young team and we need to find more pace," said Rick Kelly.
"There's no secret behind that. The last three events for me have been OK. We've scored reasonable points but I want to be at the point where I'm fighting for a race win and to do that we need to find a little bit more pace from our cars, try a few new things and do a little bit more development.
"The Grand Prix is a great chance for me to do that. We've had a couple of meetings since Adelaide with all of our engineers and we've got some great ideas that we've had in mind for a while and the Grand Prix is a chance for us to implement them.
"So we don't expect to go there and break the sound barrier. When you work on trying new things it could work well straight away or it could take some time to get on top of them, but in the end it's that development work that makes your cars work better and run quicker.
"In saying that it's great to have a round that's local and you can sleep in your own bed. We also get to perform in front of the F1 guys as well so we will be giving it a red-hot go to try and get some results, have a good run and hopefully finish somewhere towards the front."
KEY FACTS:
- Albert Park a happy hunting ground for Todd Kelly ...
* Todd Kelly has won two V8 Supercar races at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, taking out the opening race of the weekend in both 2005 and 2006
* He is also a two-time pole position winner at Albert Park, topping qualifying in both 2005 and 2006
* Rick Kelly's best form at Albert Park came in 2008, when he scored three top four finishes
V8 Supercar Championship Series Points Standings
After Race 6 of 26
1. Jamie Whincup 771
2. Mark Winterbottom 714
3. James Courtney 696
4. Shane Van Gisbergen 630
5. Lee Holdsworth 573
6. Craig Lowndes 552
7. Rick Kelly 530
8. Paul Dumbrell 489
9. Michael Caruso 462
10. Steven Johnson 455
23. Todd Kelly 237
BRC IMPCO CHALLENGE DETAILS:
Circuit: Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Circuit Length: 5.303 kilometres
Format: x3 13-lap races (not for championship points)
2009 Attendance: 286,900 (four days)
2009 Pole Winner: Craig Lowndes
2009 Race 1 Winner: Craig Lowndes
2009 Race 2 Winner: Mark Winterbottom
2009 Race 3 Winner: Craig Lowndes
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Times below are Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Times
Thursday 25 March 2010
2:10pm - 2:40pm: Practice
5:15pm - 5:45pm: Qualifying
Friday 26 March 2010
3:00pm - 3:40pm: Top-10 Shootout
6:15pm: Race 1 - 13 laps
Saturday 27 March 2010
6:15pm: Race 2 – 13 laps
Sunday 28 March 2010
2:20pm: Race 3 - 13 laps
TELEVISION SCHEDULE – NETWORK TEN / ONE HD
Times subject to amendment - please check local guides.
Friday 26 March 2010
12:00pm - 7:00pm AEDST (ONE HD)
Saturday 27 March 2010
12:00pm - 6:00pm AEDST (TEN & ONE HD)
6:00pm - 7:00pm AEDST (ONE HD)
Sunday 28 March 2010
12:00pm - 5:30pm AEST (TEN & ONE HD)
7:00pm - 7:30pm (ONE HD)
NB: Telecast 30 minutes earlier each day in South Australia.
