Rick Kelly, Jack Daniels Racing
John Maricic
For the first time in four years, the V8 Supercar Championship was welcomed back to Sydney Motorsport Park.
With a reconfigured and partly resurfaced track and only two 30-minute practice sessions before qualifying today’s 36-lap 140km race, the pressure was on the drivers and crews to quickly find a competitive setup.
Race 18 – 36 Laps, 140KM
Jack Daniel's Racing duo Todd and Rick Kelly both had a solid run in today’s 18th race of the 2012 V8 Supercar Championship.
From his 11th starting spot, Todd was shuffled back to 13th on the first lap and held steady for many laps managing both fuel and tires. Todd was one of the last to pit and as a result, led the race on lap 20 before pitting on lap 21 for fuel and a change to the soft compound tires. After the pitstop he dropped to 20th and worked solidly to work his way back to 14th.
Rick started 21st and like Todd worked hard to manage his tires and fuel. Rick pitted on lap 22 for fuel and a change to soft compound tires after topping the leader board briefly and returned to the track in 22nd place. From there Rick worked his way forward to finish 17th.
Rick Kelly – “We had a pretty tough qualifying session but made some big changes for the race and the car was really good. We were able to pass a lot of cars while on both compound tires. The tire degradation and our race pace was really positive for us today and we take that confidence with us tomorrow”.
Todd Kelly – “The car was pretty good on its own and was really strong in some places and not so much in others. I could get the car around on my own on par with the guys around me but where I was weak were the passing spots so I couldn’t really pass the cars I caught. We will just re-tune the car a little to improve our weak areas and be ready for tomorrow”.
Source: Jack Daniel Racing
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