PRESS ROOM

Courtney Takes Podium in Clipsal 500 Opener

Round 1, Clipsal 500 Adelaide, Adelaide Street Circuit

Leg 1 Report

Saturday 3 March 2007

JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney seized his best ever V8 Supercar race finish in today’s opening leg of the Clipsal 500, bringing the Stone Brothers Racing BF Ford Falcon home in an impressive second position in the 78-lap race.

Courtney, who has previously finished third in races at Queensland Raceway and Bathurst in 2006, claimed his third V8 Supercar podium finish at the Adelaide Street Circuit today.

SBR’s JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon was the fastest car on the track during today’s race, with Courtney setting consecutive lap records on laps 31 and 32, punching in a 1:22.8075.

Courtney started the race from pole position but was unable to take advantage and slipped to fourth in the first corner.

The 2006 Rookie of the Year steadied the ship in the early laps and worked his way back to second when race leaders Jamie Whincup and Garth Tander speared off the track on oil at turn four.

Courtney moved into the lead on lap 21, passing Mark Winterbottom at turn nine and made his first compulsory pit stop on lap 27 for four tyres. The JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon pitted for fuel on lap 40, rejoining the race in seventh position.

As the race unfolded, Courtney moved into second position behind Todd Kelly, pushing the race leader hard in the closing stages of the race.

With both cars evenly matched for speed, the JELD-WEN driver had to settle for second.

Caltex Racing’s Russell Ingall had a mixed race, finishing in eighth position.

Ingall started the 250 kilometre race strongly, moving into fourth position by lap 18.

The Caltex Racing Falcon pitted for four tyres on lap 28, and again for fuel on lap 35. Ingall worked his way back from 15th after completing both compulsory stops, crossing the line in eighth position.

Ingall and Courtney will tackle leg two of the Clipsal 500 tomorrow at 2:30pm.

SBR’s Jonathon Webb completed an impressive first round in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series this morning, taking equal third for the round after finishing fifth in race two. Webb battled for third position for most of the race with Damien White and was unlucky to be pipped for fourth position on the last corner by Andrew Thompson.

Webb is currently fourth in the Series and will race at round two at Wakefield Park on 30 March to 1 April.

Russell Ingall, car #9, Caltex Racing

“I went into the race today with a strategy to go easy in the first quarter of the race because we only wanted to change two tyres; we have the option of changing four or two in the pit stop and obviously four takes twice as long.

“We wanted to conserve the front tyres so we just played it cool, got past Lowndes early and hung in behind the bunch.

“With a couple of guys spearing off on some oil we were able to climb to fourth place so it was all looking alright.

“We ended up changing four tyres in the stop which cost us a bit of time and we also got a bit jammed in with Triple Eight pitting in front of us at the same time.

“We felt that we could have finished on the podium so it really cost us a good result. It was a bit of a hero to zero situation.

“Conditions in the car were pretty bad; we had a cool suit failure so it was hard work.

“The pace was extremely quick this year and that makes it hard work, running on the limit all the time.

“We need to improve our strategy tomorrow and make sure we use our stops to the best advantage.

“I think we will be able to find the car speed and be a bit more competitive tomorrow.”

James Courtney, car #4, JELD-WEN Motorsport</p>

“I got a pretty good jump at the start of the race but probably got a little bit excited on the gas and got into it a bit too hard.

“It wasn’t the best start but I knuckled down and was pushing on hard.

“In the pit stop I got held up a little bit by Craig’s (Lowndes) car and couldn’t get out so we lost a bit of time there.

“In the end I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Championship considering where we started last year.

“This time last year we had a car in a million pieces and some of it still in the wall at turn eight so second position this year is fantastic.

“We were really smoking along at one stage in the race and the pace of the JELD-WEN car was great.

“To have two fastest laps is great. I was pushing really hard to try and get past Todd (Kelly). He said he was doing eight-tenths; I think I was doing ten-and-a-half tenths, there wasn’t one bit left in it.

“It was a great race and my hat goes off to Todd, he didn’t make one mistake the whole time I was behind him and I was pushing him really hard. It just shows the level of drivers in this championship, that they can sustain that sort of pressure over this amount of laps in the heat.

“We will make a few little adjustments overnight, and see how it goes in the warm up tomorrow, see if we can turn this thing into a rocket ship. We will try and make it a bit more of a ‘passing car’ and get those pit stops sorted out for tomorrow.”

Jonathon Webb, car #94, Stone Brothers Racing (Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series)

“It was a little disappointing to drop to fifth in the second race after holding down third for much of it.

“But we can take a lot of positives out of the weekend. Equal third on our first weekend out as a team is not too bad.

“We have plenty of time to make improvements and move up the order.”

Ross Stone, Team Manager, Stone Brothers Racing

“Stone Brothers Racing is back in the game and we couldn’t be happier.

“I’m really pleased for everyone on the team, both here at the track and back at the workshop. It’s been a great effort by all to get us into this position.

“It’s unusual to have a race here at Clipsal with no safety car so it was a tough fight by Russell and James all the way; they both did a great job.

“Both cars had good race speed and we think we can tweak a few things and make them better tomorrow.”

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