James Courtney won today's opening race of the BRC IMPCO Challenge at the Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne today ahead of Garth Tander and Shane van Gisbergen.
JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD
TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"It was on for young and old at the first corner there and I lost a few spots out of it," said Todd Kelly.
"We probably didn't have the pace of the guys at the front in race conditions, so where we ended up was probably what our pace was. I also speared off and let (Paul) Dumbrell and (Craig) Lowndes past, I got Dumbrell back and that's where we ended up for today.
"There's a couple of things that stood out straight away in the race that we can probably do to the car overnight to make it a fair bit better and let it look after it's tyres a little better. So again, we learned a lot and at least we are trucking along in a good position while we are learning these things, which is promising.
"So we will apply what we learned today for tomorrow and hopefully it will give us a better race car, but certainly, the way the car was in qualifying trim was awesome.
"If we can replicate that qualifying speed in Hamilton and do a little bit better in terms of what the car does in the race, it will be pretty positive.
"Definitely, the changes that we are making to our Jack Daniel's Commodore here at Albert Park will apply everywhere, across the board. Obviously a place like Hamilton has a different base set-up but we are definitely improving with each event.
"We are a hell of a lot closer to the mark here compared to Adelaide and hopefully at Hamilton we are even closer again. Slowly but surely I'm getting more and more confident with where we are at."
RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"It was a disappointing race considering we started from fourth," said Rick Kelly.
"We had a car capable of finishing right up there so it's a little frustrating.
"We got hustled of the start line and run into the grass, which caused the first part of the deterioration of our race.
"Unfortunately that pushed us narrow going into Turn 1 and I got bumped again into the grass on the exit.
"I fell a couple of spots back and then I made a mistake while behind PD (Paul Dumbrell), which caused me to spin.
"We've got a few different things on the car that are taking me a little bit of time to get used to, particularly in a race situation, so we've got to try and look at what we are trying to achieve and continue to develop and improve the Jack Daniel's Commodore and try to move forward for the rest of the weekend."
RESULTS: Race 1
1. #18 James Courtney 13 laps
2. #2 Garth Tander
3. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen
4. #888 Craig Lowndes
5. #1 Jamie Whincup
6. #7 Todd Kelly
7. #55 Paul Dumbrell
8. #17 Steven Johnson
9. #5 Mark Winterbottom
10. #22 Will Davison
24. #15 Rick Kelly
RESULTS: Top 10 Shootout
1. #2 Garth Tander 1:57.1666
2. #18 James Courtney 1:57.3429
3. #7 Todd Kelly 1:57.4077
4. #15 Rick Kelly 1:57.6746
5. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen 1:57.8137
6. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:57.8903
7. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:57.9443
8. #55 Paul Dumbrell 1:58.5977
9. #8 Jason Richards 1:58.8892
10. #51 Greg Murphy 2:00.8092
BRC IMPCO V8 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.
