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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.”
V8 Supercars – Qualifying
1. Jamie Whincup 1:21.3301 (record)
2. James Courtney 1:21.3406 (record)
3. Mark Winterbottom 1:21.6647
4. Garth Tander 1:21.6930
5. Will Davison 1:21.7557
6. Craig Lowndes 1:21.8745
7. Lee Holdsworth 1:21.9638
8. Steven Johnson 1:22.0282
9. Steven Richards 1:22.0976
10. Paul Dumbrell
13. Shane Van Gisbergen 1:22.0814
V8 Supercars – Practice 2
1. Jamie Whincup 1:21.3707
2. James Courtney 1:21.7147
3. Lee Holdsworth 1:21.8048
4. Paul Dumbrell 1:21.8349
5. Cameron McConville 1:21.9394
6. Mark Winterbottom 1:21.9446
7. Will Davison 1:21.9503
8. Garth Tander 1:22.0851
9. Craig Lowndes 1:22.0933
10. Steven Johnson 1:22.1058
18. Shane Van Gisbergen 1:22.7557
V8 Supercars – Practice 1
1. Jamie Whincup 1:22.0636
2. Mark Skaife 1:22.0682
3. Mark Winterbottom 1:22.0687
4. Steven Johnson 1:22.2021
5. James Courtney 1:22.2056
6. Garth Tander 1:22.3899
7. Lee Holdsworth 1:22.4377
8. Steven Richards 1:22.4679
9. Paul Dumbrell 1:22.6463
10. Rick Kelly 1:22.6630
23. Shane Van Gisbergen 1:23.5534
Fujitsu V8 Supercars – Race 1
1. Steve Owen
2. Jack Perkins
3. Tim Slade
4. Dale Wood
5. Grant Denyer
6. Matthew White
7. Michael Trimble
8. Karl Reindler
9. Jonathon Webb
10. Brett Hobson
Fujitsu V8 Supercars – Qualifying
1. Dean Canto 1:23.0604
2. Jack Perkins 1:23.2315
3. Steve Owen 1:23.5552
4. Matthew White 1:23.6872
5. Dale Wood 1:23.7495
6. Tim Slade 1:23.8586
7. Grant Denyer 1:24.3291
8. Michael Trimble 1:24.3458
9. Jay Verdnik 1:24.3849
10. David Sieders 1:24.4231
12. Jonathon Webb 1:24.6199
Fujitsu V8 Supercars – Practice 2 (Thursday)
1. Dale Wood 1:24.0926
2. Jack Perkins 1:24.1176
3. Dean Canto 1:24.1506
4. Steve Owen 1:24.2471
5. Jonathon Webb 1:24.6925
6. Tim Slade 1:24.8950
7. Grant Denyer 1:24.9286
8. Matthew White 1:25.0279
9. Michael Trimble 1:25.4751
10. Sam Walter 1:25.5137
Fujitsu V8 Supercars – Practice 1 (Thursday)
1. Dean Canto 1:24.3522
2. Jack Perkins 1:25.0730
3. Steve Owen 1:25.0822
4. Tim Slade 1:25.3703
5. Matthew White 1:25.3999
6. Dale Wood 1:25.5061
7. Jonathon Webb 1:25.6184
8. Brett Hobson 1:25.8503
9. David Reynolds 1:26.0419
10. Jay Verdnik 1:26.1958
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