‘Crunch, Bang, Crunch’ For Besnard

Burning the midnight oil after yesterday’s crash produced a top ten car for the Lockwood Racing crew in today’s qualifying but Race One saw them back on the tools.

Fabian Coulthard jumped into the mended Commodore for the traditional 20-minute qualifying session this morning, securing an eighth-place starting spot for Endurance Co-Driver David Besnard in the first of two 20-lap qualifying races.

On lap one, however, Paul Morris locked up and sent Besnard flying, damaging the car’s exhaust and relegating them to P24 by the chequered flag.

Coulthard recovered to finish 18th in the afternoon’s second qualifying race, which is where the duo will start tomorrow’s 500km marathon at 13.35.

David Besnard
Lockwood Racing Co-Driver
“I got a pretty good start but then it was just crunch, bang, crunch. I felt like a bloody pinball! Paul Morris got on the inside of me and I tried to cover him but there was some overlap so I got right out wide to let him through. When he turned in, though, he was all locked up and, if we hadn’t been there, I think he would have ended up in Melbourne.

“I like Paul but he seems to think it’s funny to go out there and bash into people. We take this a bit more seriously so it’s just a real shame that he’s done it again today.

“After the impact, fumes were coming into the cockpit pretty thick and fast. The first lap down the back straight I couldn’t breath. I didn’t think I was going to last but I managed to soldier on.”

Fabian Coulthard
Lockwood Racing
“There weren’t too many people behind me after the first lap this afternoon but if you start on a bad patch of tarmac you get a bad start, it’s that simple.

“I had massive under-steer but managed to pass a few cars. I think it was that bent anyway from the race before, which is part of the reason we struggled.

“It wasn’t David’s fault today; you’re not in control of what other people do. The co-driver race was actually pretty tame by the sounds of things. “

2012 Dick Smith Sandown 500 – V8 Supercars C’ship Race 20
SANDOWN INTERNATIONAL MOTOR RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS – Qualifying
01 Will Davison, Trading Post FPR Ford, 1:09.3670
02 Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team, +0.0072
03 Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing, +0.0813
04 Craig Lowndes, TeamVodafone, +0.0949
05 David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing Team, +0.1165
06 Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Ford, +0.1757
07 Steve Owen, VIP Petfoods, +0.2045
08 Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, +0.2906
09 Jonathon Webb, Tekno Autosports, +0.3134
10 Jamie Whincup, TeamVodafone, +0.3489

2012 Dick Smith Sandown 500 – V8 Supercars C’ship Race 20
SANDOWN INTERNATIONAL MOTOR RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS – Qualifying Race One
01 Luke Youlden, SP Tools Racing
02 Paul Dumbrell, Team Vodafone
03 Dean Canto, The Bottle-O Racing Team
04 John McIntyre, Trading Post FPR Ford
05 Warren Luff, Team Vodafone
06 Nick Percat, Holden Racing Team
07 Scott McLaughlin, Tekno Autosports
08 Andrew Thompson, Lucky 7 Racing
09 Greg Ritter, Fujitsu Racing
10 Alex Davison, Team Norton
24 David Besnard, Lockwood Racing

2012 Dick Smith Sandown 500 – V8 Supercars C’ship Race 20
SANDOWN INTERNATIONAL MOTOR RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS – Qualifying Race Two / Sandown 500 Grid

01 Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing
02 David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing Team
03 Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team
04 Tim Slade, Lucky 7 Racing
05 Michael Caruso, Fujitsu Racing
06 Rick Kelly, Jack Daniels Racing
07 Craig Lowndes, TeamVodafone
08 James Courtney, Holden Racing Team
09 Jonathon Webb, Tekno Racing
10 Jason Bright, Team BOC
18 Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing