Discipline was the name of the game at Sydney Motorsport Park today as Team BOC’s Jason Bright regulated his pace to maximise tyre life and finish tenth.
Bright, who started 17th after a slip in qualifying, watched the cars in front blast off into the distance during this afternoon’s 36-lap race but they soon came back to him after burning all their rubber.
At one point Bright passed Lee Holdsworth, Steve Owen, Tim Slade, Fabian Coulthard and Michael Patrizi in the space of a few laps and says tomorrow’s longer race will play into the team’s hands.
Qualifying starts at 12.25pm.
Jason Bright
Team BOC
“I purposely didn’t do any passing for the first seven or eight laps and then, within two laps of pushing on, I’d passed about four cars so we weren’t struggling for race pace!
“I just knew it was going to be hard-off on tyres especially the way the guys in front were pushing. If I’d pushed that hard I would have used up tyre as well. Instead I saved fuel and conserved tyres for the opening laps and then started to push and we were getting a car or two a lap after that.
“In qualifying I just made a wrong gear change; it was a rookie mistake. I would have been surprised if we weren’t inside the top seven if it hadn’t been for that. If we’d have started there we could have had a podium.
“The car’s very good on tyre life and, with the longer race tomorrow, that should play into our hands.”
Sydney Motorsport Park 360 – V8 Supercar C’ship Races 18&19
SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK
V8 SUPERCARS – Qualifying Race 18
01 Jamie Whincup, TeamVodafone, 1:29.6353
02 Jonathon Webb, Tekno Autosports, +0.0189
03 Will Davison, Trading Post FPR Ford, +0.0541
04 Michael Caruso, Fujitsu Racing, +0.1017
05 Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Ford, +0.1115
06 Craig Lowndes, TeamVodafone, +0.1288
07 David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing Team, +0.1476
08 Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing, +0.3043
09 Tony D’Alberto, Team Hiflex, +0.3157
10 Russell Ingall, Supercheap Auto Racing, +0.3173
17 Jason Bright, Team BOC, +0.5747
Sydney Motorsport Park 360 – V8 Supercar C’ship Races 18&19
SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK
V8 SUPERCARS – Race 18
01 Craig Lowndes, TeamVodafone
02 Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Ford
03 Will Davison, Trading Post FPR Ford
04 Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team
05 Russell Ingall, Supercheap Auto Racing
06 James Courtney, Holden Racing Team
07 Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing
08 Michael Caruso, Fujitsu Racing
09 Jonathon Webb, Tekno Autosports
10 Jason Bright, Team BOC