Skaife - best on the day at the AGP
March 13th 2008 10:57
Mark Skaife has blasted his way into provisional pole position for this weekend’s Red v Blue Sprint Gas V8 Supercars Manufacturers Challenge at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Toll HRT veteran overcame all-comers to draw first blood for the Red corner at Albert Park today with an impressive 1:58.5086 lap, waiting until the dying seconds before leap-frogging the competition, including Steven Richards who had, moments before, jumped to the top of the qualifying leader board with a 1 min 58.6621 lap.
Eleven minutes of the thirty minute session were lost after a tyre from a barrier strayed onto the track at turn four, forcing officials to red flag the session. By the time it had been fixed up only eight minutes remained and a mad dash ensued, with all teams pushing their hardest to record the best time possible.
But no-one could catch Skaife.
“I knew after the red flag that everyone was going to have another go,” Skaife said. “It was obvious that the track was going to change compared to what it was before the red flag.
“I also changed the car for that last bit as I was unhappy with it when I first drove out, so it was a good direction for us.”
Skaife also had a few tips for the other drivers lining up behind him in race one tomorrow.
“You have to chase the track here with setup (as more rubber gets laid by the Formula One cars),” he said, and:
“As the weekend goes on the heat will become a factor as the engine temperatures will be high and the brake temperatures will be high, so there is a bit of thought needed to make sure that they last for the duration of all the races,” he said.
Well done Skaifey.
Steven Richards and the FPR team showed determination and grit in their attempt to get the Ford driver up and running for this weekend’s non-championship round after his horror crash at Eastern Creek just four days ago. A crash which wrote off his 2008 Falcon forcing the FPR team to build him a new car from a 2007 chassis.
“The car has a good track record; it's Frosty's car from last year and it has had enough updates over its life to be right up there with our current cars,” he said.
Third placed Jason Richards was excited to be starting the weekend in such a strong position, even considering the tough conditions he had to ‘work’ in.
“It was very hot and I didn't have a cool suit so the guys probably won't let me run a cool suit from now on,” he joked.
Tomorrow will see the top five Holdens and top five Fords from the qualifying session fight it out in the shootout to determine who takes pole position for race one tomorrow afternoon. For more information on how the unique Red v Blue Challenge will happen see this post.
And if you think the drivers won’t be taking it seriously tomorrow because it’s a non-points round of the championship, Steven Richards can put your mind at rest.
“You always come here to have a go, especially if you qualify well… there is no way that any of the three of us (Skaife, Jason Richards and himself) will be sitting back tomorrow and not having a go,” he said. “It's a good opportunity to get some results on the board, but at the same time we can have a bit of a play with the setup of the cars for the championship.”
Top Ten Qualifying times
Mark Skaife 1:58.5086
Steve Richards 1:58.6621
Jason Richards 1:58.7134
Will Davision 1:58.7249
Garth Tander 1:58.8971
Mark Winterbottom 1:59.1371
Cameron McConville 1:59.1964
Craig Lowndes 1:59.2023
Russell Ingall 1:59.2442
Steve Johnson 1:59.2450
The Toll HRT veteran overcame all-comers to draw first blood for the Red corner at Albert Park today with an impressive 1:58.5086 lap, waiting until the dying seconds before leap-frogging the competition, including Steven Richards who had, moments before, jumped to the top of the qualifying leader board with a 1 min 58.6621 lap.
Eleven minutes of the thirty minute session were lost after a tyre from a barrier strayed onto the track at turn four, forcing officials to red flag the session. By the time it had been fixed up only eight minutes remained and a mad dash ensued, with all teams pushing their hardest to record the best time possible.
But no-one could catch Skaife.
GO SKAIFEY!
“I knew after the red flag that everyone was going to have another go,” Skaife said. “It was obvious that the track was going to change compared to what it was before the red flag.
“I also changed the car for that last bit as I was unhappy with it when I first drove out, so it was a good direction for us.”
Skaife also had a few tips for the other drivers lining up behind him in race one tomorrow.
“As the weekend goes on the heat will become a factor as the engine temperatures will be high and the brake temperatures will be high, so there is a bit of thought needed to make sure that they last for the duration of all the races,” he said.
Well done Skaifey.
Steven Richards and the FPR team showed determination and grit in their attempt to get the Ford driver up and running for this weekend’s non-championship round after his horror crash at Eastern Creek just four days ago. A crash which wrote off his 2008 Falcon forcing the FPR team to build him a new car from a 2007 chassis.
“The car has a good track record; it's Frosty's car from last year and it has had enough updates over its life to be right up there with our current cars,” he said.
Third placed Jason Richards was excited to be starting the weekend in such a strong position, even considering the tough conditions he had to ‘work’ in.
“It was very hot and I didn't have a cool suit so the guys probably won't let me run a cool suit from now on,” he joked.
Tomorrow will see the top five Holdens and top five Fords from the qualifying session fight it out in the shootout to determine who takes pole position for race one tomorrow afternoon. For more information on how the unique Red v Blue Challenge will happen see this post.
And if you think the drivers won’t be taking it seriously tomorrow because it’s a non-points round of the championship, Steven Richards can put your mind at rest.
“You always come here to have a go, especially if you qualify well… there is no way that any of the three of us (Skaife, Jason Richards and himself) will be sitting back tomorrow and not having a go,” he said. “It's a good opportunity to get some results on the board, but at the same time we can have a bit of a play with the setup of the cars for the championship.”
Top Ten Qualifying times
Mark Skaife 1:58.5086
Steve Richards 1:58.6621
Jason Richards 1:58.7134
Will Davision 1:58.7249
Garth Tander 1:58.8971
Mark Winterbottom 1:59.1371
Cameron McConville 1:59.1964
Craig Lowndes 1:59.2023
Russell Ingall 1:59.2442
Steve Johnson 1:59.2450
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