PRESS ROOM

Courtney on Front Row for Clipsal 500 Adelaide

Round 1, Clipsal 500 Adelaide, Adelaide Parklands Circuit, SA

21-24 February 2008

JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney will start tomorrow’s Clipsal 500 Adelaide from the front row, qualifying second and missing his second Clipsal 500 pole position by the smallest of margins.

The SBR driver had race fans on the edge of their seats in the dying minutes of qualifying as he made a last lap dash for the number one position.

Courtney was on track to grab his second pole position in as many years until a gear box problem on the final corner saw him drop a fraction of a second in the last sector to post a time of 1:21.3406 seconds, one-one hundredth of a second behind Jamie Whincup.

Courtney is positive about tomorrow’s race, confident that the JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon has the speed to run at the front of the field.

Team-mate Shane van Gisbergen made a fantastic debut at the Adelaide Parklands circuit, qualifying the SP Tools Racing Falcon in 13th position, the 18 year-old rookie ahead of many experienced campaigners.

Van Gisbergen took the difficult street circuit in his stride, building confidence throughout the day to put himself at the pointy end of the midfield, increasing his chances of a good result in his first Clipsal 500.

In the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, SBR’s Jonathon Webb finished race one in ninth position after qualifying in 12th place.

James Courtney, car #4, JELD-WEN Motorsport

“The SBR cars have been really good straight out of the truck. We had a few small dramas to iron out but we’ve done that.

“The last leg of qualifying went well, we were confident that we had a good car.

“We did good times in the two previous legs and had two sets of tyres to run in the third leg. In the last corner we had a little drama with the gear box but apart from that it was like clockwork.

“The JELD-WEN guys have done a fantastic job. They have worked so hard over the break.

“We’re in a great position for tomorrow and there is no reason why we can’t take it away from the front row.”

Shane van Gisbergen, car #9, SP Tools Racing

“We wanted to be in the top 20 and we wanted to do that solidly and we did.

“We were on a quicker lap again at the end of leg two but the SP Tools Falcon ran out of brakes into turn nine.

“Very happy with today’s result; 13th puts us at the front end of the midfield bunch. If we can stick with the guys at the front we can come away with a good result.

“The Adelaide circuit is very different; its got bits of Indy and bits of a conventional race track. It’s great to drive and is all about building confidence over the kerbs.”

Ross Stone, Team Principle, Stone Brothers Racing

“Shane’s performance today was what we needed to show the potential that we know he has.

“His feedback and feel was great today. We know that tomorrow will be tough but we are confident that he will keep his head down and put in a solid race.

“James was outstanding today and the SBR team is working really well as a whole.

“We’ve got good cars and we are in a position to take advantage of today’s good qualifying result.”

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Courtney on Front Row for Clipsal 500 Adelaide

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