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Race report

Tough times in Tasmania for Jack Daniel's Racing

In the early race, contact saw the elder Kelly brother sidelined with steering damage. It was also a day to forget for Rick Kelly, who suffered brake failure at 270km/h in the first race.

Todd and Rick Kelly

Todd and Rick Kelly

Jack Daniels Racing

The Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altimas of Todd and Rick Kelly had a frustrating opening pair of races today at Symmons Plains Raceway, with dramas befalling both drivers in each race.

Todd Kelly showed strong potential for the squad, with a seventh place qualifying effort for race two, which was converted to fifth place on the road shortly after the start.

A safety car restart incident however forced Todd to take a drive through penalty, after which he stormed through the field to finish in 14th place.

Todd and Rick Kelly
Todd and Rick Kelly

Photo by: Jack Daniels Racing

In the early race, contact saw the elder Kelly brother sidelined with steering damage.

It was also a day to forget for Rick Kelly, who suffered brake failure at 270km/h in the first race.

The team worked hard to see the car to return to the track for the second encounter, but he finished once again beached at the turn six gravel trap after being forced off by Chaz Mostert.

Sunday on track activity commences at 11:25am AEDT with a 20 minute qualifying session, while the 200km sixth race of the season is scheduled to start at 3:55pm.

TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altima:
Qualifying Race 4- 19th
Race 4- DNF
Qualifying Race 5- 7th
Race 5- 14th

"It was a tough day for Jack Daniel's Racing, we had a DNF again in the first race with a broken steering clevis, and the second race was where we were going to redeem ourselves," said Todd Kelly.

"Starting eighth we got away to a good start, then after the safety car, with the new rules there was a massive drama up ahead.

"I got a good jump, right when everyone else jumped hard on the brakes, and I had to turn hard right to avoid what was going to be quite a large pile up.

"Obviously then I've wound up ahead of those guys before getting to the control line, and we received a drive through for it, which is frustrating.

"The only way to avoid getting the drive through penalty was to take out five cars, which wouldn't have ended any better for me.

"It would have been great to let them back past and carry on, but unfortunately that put us at the back of the field with a fast car, which was not ideal."

RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altima:
Qualifying Race 4- 18th
Race 4- DNF
Qualifying Race 5- 14th
Race 5- 24th

"That's as tough as it gets, two DNFs looks like I've caught Todd's bad luck bug unfortunately," said Rick Kelly.

"We had brake failure in the first race, and it was a pretty hairy ride through the sand trap.

"We were going pretty well in the second race actually, but we didn't have the best car out there.

"The straight line speed of those other cars out there is just amazing.

"The (Craig) Lowndes car, it drove itself, the speed it had up the straight was incredible.

"There's not much we can do about that, we were sitting in tenth pretty well, I braked into turn six and just got punted off.

"That's disappointing, because a tenth would have been great for the team with a car that wasn't quite ideal.

"So we've got to fix it for tomorrow and go again, it's a longer race with more opportunities."

Jack Daniel's Racing

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