Jack Daniel's Racing L&H 500 race report

Rick And Owen Kelly Salvage Eighth From Trying L&H 500 At Phillip Island

#15 Jack Daniel's Racing: Rick Kelly

Photo by: Chris Von Wieldt

Jack Daniel’s Racing duo Rick Kelly and Owen Kelly have salvaged eighth place from a trying L&H 500 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria today.

The pair scored the solid top 10 finish, Rick Kelly’s 10th for the season, aboard the #15 Jack Daniel’s Commodore, enough for Rick Kelly to maintain fourth place in the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship points standings after 19 of 28 races.

Handling and tyre wear issues hampered both Jack Daniel’s Commodores this weekend over long stints, with Todd Kelly and David Russell also struggling in the final stages of today’s race, finishing in 14th to put both Jack Daniel’s Racing entries in the top half of the finishing order in today’s 113-lap endurance race.

Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife won today’s L&H 500 ahead of Jamie Whincup and John McIntyre, with Will Davison and Luke Youlden in third place.

The 10th event of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship is the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 at the Mount Panorama circuit in New South Wales on October 6-9.

JACK DANIEL’S RACING QUOTEBOARD

RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel’s Holden Commodore:

“I think that result is pretty much where our car pace was at this weekend,” said Rick Kelly.

“It was quite an uneventful race with Safety Cars and the like. They called one for some birds on the track there, which bunched us up a bit, but it was hard for us to take advantage of those extraordinary circumstances like that Safety Car and oil on the track.

“When it is just outright racing with only one Safety Car you can't beat people who are faster than you and today was a little bit like that.

“Where I qualified the #15 Jack Daniel’s Commodore due to my poor start yesterday didn't help the situation.

“I think we did pretty well to finish in eighth today. We switched up our tyres a little bit and ran our best set earlier in the race. It gave us an advantage in an earlier stint but we lost out in the end there.

“All in all we did OK. Sixth would have been a good result for us but we lost two spots in the final stint and eighth is not too bad.”

OWEN KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel’s Holden Commodore:

“We've been struggling all weekend and never really hit on it,” said Owen Kelly.

“We changed things overnight again and we changed more again after the warm-up today.

“We did the best with what we had. We didn’t really roll the #15 Jack Daniel’s Commodore out of the truck where we wanted to be so we were chasing all weekend.

“It wasn't quite there for us but at least we made the best of a bad day and got Rick some good championship points.”

TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel’s Holden Commodore:

“It was a bloody hard day out there today,” said Todd Kelly.

“The fact was that we just didn't have a fast enough car and instead of attacking we were covering and in defence-mode the whole race.

“It was just way too hard on its tyres. It really cooked the rear tyres especially during the race and then it makes you weak everywhere, cornering and especially under braking.

“We just had no pace towards the end there and got cleaned up by the guys who pitted later and had fresher tyres, so there absolutely is nothing you can do about that.

“There was some pretty average driving out there. Bargs ran me off in one of the fastest corners on the track coming onto the front straight. That could have been a lot worse so it's good to come back with a straight #7 Jack Daniel's Commodores after dealing with those kinds of blokes.”

DAVID RUSSELL - #7 Jack Daniel’s Holden Commodore:

“We had high hopes for this weekend,” said David Russell.

“Todd and I were really looking at a top five today for the #7 Jack Daniel’s Commodore - that was our goal.

“But it was a solid result and personally I've learned a lot about the car today.

“The team did a great job and it was a fantastic weekend from that point of view

“They work so hard. We had a bit of a drama with the wheel guns at a pit stop but they got in and fixed it really quickly so we didn't lose too much time at all.

“Todd had a great stint in the last half of the race. Towards the end of the final stint the tyres were going away and he was just hanging on. He did a good job to keep it in a solid position in the top 15.”