PRESS ROOM

SBR Three-Four at Sandown’s Midas 400

Midas 400, Sandown International Motor Raceway, VIC

10 June 2008

Stone Brothers Racing Falcons finished line-astern at the Midas 400 at Sandown International Raceway this afternoon, with JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney claiming a third place podium finish followed closely by SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen in fourth.

Courtney was a picture of consistency today, finishing races two and three in fourth and third respectively, a trouble-free weekend rewarding the Gold Coast-based driver with a large points haul, boosting him to seventh in the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

But it was Shane van Gisbergen that was the talk of the track this afternoon after a brilliant drive in race two saw him claim his first V8 Supercar podium race finish.

Van Gisbergen started race two from ninth on the grid and found the wet conditions to his liking. The SP Tools Racing driver put on a thrilling display of passing manoeuvers on the likes of Russell Ingall and Mark Winterbottom to move into third position by lap eight.

Slick pit stops by the SBR crew ensured that van Gisbergen maintained third position and Courtney jumped Winterbottom to move to fourth.

A safety car period on lap 31 brought the field together and the restart on lap 34 saw van Gisbergen and Courtney on the tail of leaders Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.

In the closing laps, van Gisbergen lo oked to be settled in third before Whincup made an error allowing Lowndes and van Gisbergen through, giving the SP Tools Racing driver second position and his best V8 Supercar race finish.

Race three began in unusual circumstances, with Craig Lowndes unable to take up first position on the grid due to a mechanical failure on the formation lap. This left van Gisbergen on the front row on his own, with team-mate Courtney directly behind.

It was Courtney that made the most of the start, the JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon streaking into the first corner, ahead of van Gisbergen, SBR Falcons running one-two.

The final race of the day was played out through pit stops, the JELD-WEN Motorsport crew electing to bring Courtney in for his compulsory pit stop early while front runners Winterbottom and Whincup ran long.

At the closure of the compulsory pit stop window, Courtney was in third position behind Whincup and Winterbottom where he stayed until the chequred flag on lap 39.

Van Gisbergen fought all the way for his fourth position, hustled by Todd Kelly for much of the race. The 19 year-old Kiwi held his own, eventually finishing the race in fourth position.

The weekend was a success for SBR, the team moving up to fourth in the team’s championship and van Gisbergen jumping from 16th to 11th in the Championship standings.

SBR’s Jonathon Webb also had a successful race meeting in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, placing third and fourth in races two and three respectively. Webb’s consistent weekend saw him finish third for the round, taking him to fourth in the series standings.

James Courtney, #4, JELD-WEN Motorsport

“We had a trouble free weekend which is just what we need right now to get us back in the Championship race.

“The SBR cars were great in the wet today. Shane (van Gisbergen) pipped me in race two; he did a great job. I wasn’t too sure that I liked my younger tea m mate ahead of me so we pushed pretty hard in race three and turned it around!

“The JELD-WEN Falcon got off to a great start in race three and was speedy for the first few laps. We maybe pitted a bit early as we started to struggle with tyres going off at the end.

“The conditions were pretty difficult for the last ten laps and I didn’t have a lot to gain by pushing it so we decided that third was a pretty good result.”

Shane van Gisbergen, #9, SP Tools Racing Falcon

“Today was an awesome day.

“We didn’t qualify so well yesterday but we had a pretty good car in race one which got us up in the ten.

“The SP Tools Racing Falcon was great in race two today. We had a great run through the traffic. We didn’t quite have the speed of the Triple Eight cars but the guys kept telling me to keep it smooth, keep my head down and that will get us the result.

“I’m just loving the racing; we have a great bunch of guys at SBR and they are working so hard to get us up the front.

“It is days like today why you race.”

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SBR Three-Four at Sandown’s Midas 400

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