The qualifying format was different to yesterday, as the 20 minute only qualifying session saw drivers fight for position for race two of the round.
'We again set some good times straight up in qualifying, but the car just didn't take to the track. Green tyres didn't improve our times as much as we were hoping, and we have continued to struggle with power down'.
Tony set a 1.10.71 to qualify #55 in the ealry 20s.
Race 10 for the Championship Series was a 200km race, twice as long as yesterdays.
Track temperature soared 12 degrees inbetween qualifying and the race, as the green machine took to the starting grid.
'Starting on soft tyres worked well for us. I got a clean start and passed several people on the opening laps. The pit window opened and alot of teams pitted early for the first of the two compulsary pit stops, which enabled us to get a good run'.
Tony continued up the field and was all over the back of Alex Davison before passing him and moving into 11th position and behind Patrizi who was also on soft tyres.
#55 pulled into the pits with 14 laps down to have the soft tyres taken off and a set of green tyres put on. Back on the track Tony slipped in behind Johnson to be in 24th, and soon moved up to 21st before being forced to pit again with a broken left rear shock mount.
The boys quicky replaced the mount to then have to come in 2 laps later with the car overheating due to no water in the raidiator.
'It sounds easy. You come in put water in the raidiator and back out you go. But as the car is at such high temperatures the pressure under the cap builds up and you can't open it. We had to wait until the temperature had lowered to below 100 degrees before it was safe to take the cap off and fill the raidiator with water'.
The car got back out on the track with the leaders on lap 61, to then have to come in again with the same left rear shock mount breaking.
The Bottle-O Commodore retired in lap 68 of the 69 lap race.
"It was a disappointing and frustrating 3 days. We will walk away from this round with alot to think about'.
Congratualtions to Micheal Caruso on a well earned win in race two of the Skycity Triple Crown.
Some of the boys are staying in Darwin for a few extra days to prepare the car, as the car will go straight from this round to Townsville where we hope for a bit more luck.
Round Seven of the V8 Supercar Series Championship begins on the 10th of July as we all head to Townsville for the Townsville 400.
Last Modified on 29/06/2009 14:25