Rick qualified in fourth place this morning to earn his fourth top 10 qualifying performance for the season and was locked in a tough battle with Michael Caruso for third place for most of today's race.
But at his second pit stop the Jack Daniel's Racing pit crew had an air gun socket break, only to then also experienced problems with the spare gun, further delaying the pit stop. Quick work by the crew avoided total disaster and Rick was able to rejoin in seventh position.
With only one working wheel gun for Todd Kelly's pit stop on the following lap, the crew had no choice but to fit only left side tyres to his #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore, preventing Todd from enjoying the speed advantage of using four fresh tyres for the final segment of the race.
Jamie Whincup won today's race at the ITM 400 ahead of Garth Tander and Michael Caruso.
The fifth event of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series will be held at Queensland Raceway in Ipswich, Queensland on April 30 to May 2.
JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD
RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"Today was much better than yesterday in that the Jack Daniel's Commodore was a lot quicker," said Rick Kelly.
"We were a little unsure at the start whether we'd done the right thing because we took a bigger jump with the set-up than we normally would.
"But I'm glad we did because the car was very good. I was just struggling to pull it up as much as we'd like, but that braking issue is something that we know how to fix quite easily.
"The pit stop drama cost us a fight for third. I wouldn't say that we would have had it very easily but we were definitely as quick as (Michael) Caruso.
"So it's disappointing to finish where we have but it's exciting that we are starting to get right back on the pace and for us, moving forward now, we need to finish in the top three all the time to get the points we need.
"We don't want to keep finishing sixth and seventh so we're all real keen to work as hard as we can to move forward."
TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"It's a good day for the team but we are setting our goals a lot higher than what we are achieving at the moment," said Todd Kelly.
"We are just not quite quick enough at the moment so we've got to work harder to get the car's right.
"We had a lot of things go wrong in the pits that we're not the crew's fault. We have the best pit stop crew in pit lane but we had a few dramas with equipment, which really knocked that race around.
"There were a lot of positives and we could have gone better if all those things didn't happen but it doesn't change the fact that we haven't got the cars quite where they need to be.
"To be in the top 10 is good but we are aiming high, so as we've done in the last 18 months we just need to keep focusing on improving our cars."
V8 Supercar Championship Series
Points Standings after Race 8 of 26
1. Jamie Whincup 1071
2. James Courtney 867
3. Mark Winterbottom 810
4. Lee Holdsworth 771
5. Shane Van Gisbergen 726
6. Garth Tander 723
7. Rick Kelly 722
8. Craig Lowndes 720
9. Michael Caruso 702
10. Paul Dumbrell 618
20. Todd Kelly 372
RESULTS: Race Two (Series Race 8)
1. #1 Jamie Whincup 59 laps
2. #2 Garth Tander
3. #34 Michael Caruso
4. #33 Lee Holdsworth
5. #22 Will Davison
6. #15 Rick Kelly
7. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen
8. #7 Todd Kelly
9. #11 Jason Bargwanna
10. #19 Jonothan Webb
RESULTS: Sunday Qualifying
1. #2 Garth Tander 1:23.0349
2. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:23.1043
3. #34 Michael Caruso 1:23.1966
4. #15 Rick Kelly 1:23.2514
5. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:23.3056
6. #18 James Courtney 1:23.3100
7. #17 Steven Johnson 1:23.3937
8. #22 Will Davison 1:23.4094
9. #7 Todd Kelly 1:23.4097
10. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:23.4398
ITM 400 DETAILS:
Circuit: Hamilton Street Circuit
Location: Hamilton, New Zealand
Circuit Length: 3.4 kilometres
Average Speed: 141 km/h
Maximum Speed: 248 km/h
Format: 200 km race Saturday and Sunday
2009 Attendance: 121,836 (three days)
2009 Saturday Pole Position: Mark Winterbottom
2009 Saturday Race Winner: Jamie Whincup
2009 Sunday Pole Position: James Courtney
2009 Sunday Race Winner: Jamie Whincup
