A 20 minute qualifying session determined the starting position for race two of the Townsville 400.
Setting the standard straight up, 2 laps into the session Tony was up into 12th position, and once the tyres had warmed up and got more grip, he continued to improve on his times. Coming in to pit on lap 4 for roll centre adjustments and then lap 7 for tyres Tony set a 1.13.2262 with 3 minutes remaining to position the Bottle - O Commodore in 16th position for race 2.
'The car was good. We still have 72 laps to survive this afternoon so we hope for the best'.
The track temperature rose 4 degrees from practice as the V8 Supercars took to the grid for race 12 of the championship. Tony got a clean start taking up the race line behind McConville.
The pit lane opened with the Bottle - O Commodore pulling in for fuel a lap later, slotting back in on the track in 27th position and soon up to 22nd with 8 cars infront not having pitted yet.
A safety car was deployed on lap 29 when a grate came loose on the track and needed to be secured, where Tony took the opportunity to come in for fuel and tyres, pulling back out on the track in 14th.
A safety car was again deployed when a riple strip section came off leaving bolts exposed which had to be removed. In this period #55 came in for a splash and dash to take Tony through to the end of the race. Two laps later on lap 61 the safety car peeled in and the mad dash was on. With 3 laps remaining Ingall tried to make a move down the inside at turn two, Ingall locked his rear brakes and drove into Tony which did alot of damage to both cars. Tony nursed his car home for the remaining laps and finished 17th.
' The car was good. We had trouble getting cool air causing the engine to get really hot. I was happy with our results, but it could have been alot better if we hadn't been hit by Ingall'.
'The Bottle-O Racing team showed great promise this week, we are all working hard to improve and I think we showed some glimpses of what we can achieve. I'm looking forward to the next round at Sandown, hopefully we can have abit more luck go our way!'
Last Modified on 13/07/2009 10:54