Nissan Motorsport has claimed both a pole position and a Top 5 finish during a big day of action at the CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown.
Rick Kelly completed an impressive shootout lap earlier in the day to start from P1 for this afternoon’s 200km race. After holding onto second place for much of the 70 lap event, the #15 Castrol Racing driver crossed the line in 5th position to accumulate another impressive championship points haul.
Michael Caruso gained two positions in this morning’s Top 10 Shootout and lined up in 7th for today’s race. Keen to roll the dice, Caruso’s crew brought him in early to offer the #23 Drive Racing Nissan plenty of clean air. The bold strategy was challenged by a technical issue which limited progress. Caruso managed to cross the line in 9th to make it a pair of Top 10 finishes for the weekend.
After starting 12th on the grid, Andre Heimgartner’s charge was made difficult after being pushed off the track by a competitor early in the race. The #7 Plus Fitness Racing driver recovered and demonstrated strong speed, however, contact with Le Brocq resulted in damage to Heimgartner’s steering. The tough weekend was concluded with today’s 16th placed result.
Simona De Silvestro started and finished in 17th, as her afternoon presented a number of hurdles to overcome. The Erebus entry of Anton de Pasquale made an ambitious move up the inside of the #78 Team Harvey Norman entry, forcing De Silvestro off the track and into the tyre barrier. The resulting damage, along with a cool-suit issue, ensured that De Silvestro performed impressively to simply hold her qualifying position.
The team’s two Mack Super-Liners will now start the 3,700km trip back to the workshop, as our attention now turns to the next event on the calendar: The Watpac Townsville 400, July 6-8.
DRIVER QUOTES RICK KELLY #15 CASTROL RACING : « It was fantastic to grab the pole position this morning, so you always leave a little disappointed when you start at the front and cross the line in 5th. The guys did an amazing job to give me a car that was capable of grabbing pole in the shootout, it was very comfortable and easy to execute all of that. Unfortunately, we did spend a bit too long in the pit lane with a few little things. It was a fantastic result to grab a 5th and a 6th, and to show we are capable of racing at the front. » SHOOTOUT: P1 RACE 16: P5
MICHAEL CARUSO #23 DRIVE RACING : « The car was reasonably good today. We tried a very bold strategy where we pitted very early into the race, which gave us clean air. We had a technical issue that we’ll need to investigate when we’re back at the factory. The guys did a great job in the pit stops and the car handled really nicely around here. To make the shootout was exciting. But we just need to find a little bit more to start a bit further up the order. » SHOOTOUT: P7 RACE 16: P9
ANDRE HEIMGARTNER #7 PLUS FITNESS RACING : « It was very annoying to be shoved off on the opening lap. We had good car speed, so to be forced to battle our way back up the order is never ideal. We didn’t have much luck this whole weekend. I’m glad to see the back of it. The car was really good on its tyres, so there are positives to take away. But I’d much rather to have left with a result. Next round is in Townsville and I’m really looking forward to attacking some kerbs on the street circuit. » QUALIFYING: P12 RACE 16: P16
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO #78 TEAM HARVEY NORMAN : « This was a bit of a challenging weekend for us. I got taken out by de Pasquale, and I’m annoyed he didn’t he get a penalty for that. The car wasn’t the same after we hit the tyres, but we battled on and finished one lap down. I’m keen to look ahead at the next round. Townsville is a fun circuit and street races always invite really exciting racing. » QUALIFYING: P17 RACE 16: P17
Press release Nissan Motorsport
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