Surviving three hectic starts and recovering 12 places makes Stephane Sarrazin the cream of the international co-driver crop according to Team BOC’s Jason Bright.
The pair, who finished 12th in today’s 79-lap race at Surfers Paradise, almost did not finish at all after James Hinchcliffe’s slow start caused a bottleneck off the grid. That saw Ricky Taylor spin onto his roof right in front of Sarrazin but the Frenchman’s lightning reaction avoided disaster.
His reflexes were again tested on the restart when Franck Montagny span into his path trying to avoid a stalled Nicolas Minassian. Another red flag and restart, this time with only 22 cars, saw Sarrazin opt to start from pit lane to avoid any more carnage but by the time he handed over to Bright on lap 39 he was up to 10th.
Bright found himself in the middle of a battle pack in the closing stages and, with just two laps to go, dropped back to 12th. Despite the late disappointment, however, Bright is pleased with today’s recovery after qualifying 21st.
Tomorrow’s qualifying starts at 11.15.
Jason Bright
Team BOC
“Steph did an amazing job and, in my opinion, he’s the class of the field. He’s obviously had more experience than several other international drivers on street circuits but even so he really did an awesome job to get the team up so many positions.
“By the end of the shortened race we weren’t able to gain any more ground and
I’m not really happy with the result; we could have done better. We had a pretty good car, especially in the last sector, but we struggled a bit through the chicanes.”
Stephane Sarrazin
Team BOC Co-Driver
“It was a really difficult start. A car crashed in front of me and I tried my hardest to avoid him. I actually did avoid him, but I was too occupied watching the tumbling car and I lost my train of thought and I tagged the wall on the left side, bending a suspension arm.
“We had a really strong race though. I pushed myself really hard but I made the smart choice not to take any risks in traffic and we caught several cars.
“It’s a good little track, very narrow though. I’m looking forward to Jason qualifying the team closer to the front tomorrow so we can have a proper crack at it.”
2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600 – V8 Supercars – Races 22&23
SURFERS PARADISE STREET CIRCUIT
V8 SUPERCARS – Top Ten Shootout
01 Jamie Whincup, TeamVodafone, 1:11.6478
02 Will Davison, Trading Post FPR Ford, +0.2252
03 Rick Kelly, Jack Daniel’s Racing, +0.2363
04 Michael Caruso, Fujitsu Racing, +0.3103
05 Jonathon Webb, Tekno Autosports, +0.3104
06 Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Ford, +0.3345
07 Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, +0.5422
08 Tony D’Alberto, Team Hiflex, +0.5775
09 James Courtney, Holden Racing Team, +0.7883
10 Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing, +15.4123
21 Jason Bright, Team BOC, +0.7855 (off provisional pole)
2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600 – V8 Supercars – Races 22&23
SURFERS PARADISE STREET CIRCUIT
V8 SUPERCARS – Race 22
01 Jamie Whincup / Sebastien Bourdais, TeamVodafone
02 Jonathon Webb / Marc Lieb, Tekno Autosports
03 Mark Winterbottom / Will Power, Orrcon Steel FPR Ford
04 Garth Tander / Ryan Briscoe, Holden Racing Team
05 Tim Slade / David Brabham, Lucky 7 Racing
06 Craig Lowndes / Richard Lyons, TeamVodafone
07 James Courtney / Darren Turner, Holden Racing Team
08 Rick Kelly / Graham Rahal, Jack Daniels Racing
09 Russell Ingall / Peter Dumbrek, Supercheap Auto Racing
10 Shane Van Gisbergen / Jeroen Bleekemolen, SP Tools Racing
12 Jason Bright / Stephane Sarrazin, Team BOC
