News: Russell Ingall happy with what's gone on behind the scenes
The Clipsal 500 wasn't the celebration birthday boy Russell Ingall had hoped for, but the new Supercheap Auto Racing Holden driver says he's happy with what's gone on behind the scenes.
Ingall finished 14th in Saturday's first 250km leg and was hopeful of an even better race Sunday, but his birthday got off to a poor start when he had a heavy brush with the notorious turn 8 wall in the morning warm-up.
Looking superficially damaged, the #39 Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore turned out to be a lot worse for wear; bent chassis rails, broken steering, broken left front suspension, bent crossmember, two bent rear shocks, bent and broken trailing arms and a bent differential all needing repairs or replacing before the race.
An 'all hands on' effort by the SCAR team ensured the 2005 V8 Champion made the grid, but two laps in the distributor drive broke ending the Enforcer's weekend.
"On paper it doesn't look like much of a weekend - we always knew we'd be up against it with the limited amount of time we've had putting two new cars together and just a half day testing - but behind the scenes we're happy," Ingall said.
"We had dramas Saturday, I didn't have second gear for most of the race, but we still ended up 14th on the grid for today.
"I made a mistake at the infamous turn 8, which really set us behind making repairs before the race. The team did a fantastic job getting us going again.
"Then the distributor drive broke, which was a shame as with the combination of our pace and the on-track antics of some of them out there, we had the possibility of finishing on the podium.
"I'd only done 20 laps in the new car before Adelaide, but we had good speed and were faster than a lot of established teams out of the gate. We're pretty happy we can mix it for pace with the top 10.
"We've got two straight cars to take home, so we'll go to Eastern Creek looking for a great result."
Team-mate Paul Morris also had a difficult day, rookie Andrew Thompson, with who Morris had a run in the previous day, turning in and cutting a tyre on the #67 SCAR Commodore - losing Morris a lap.
Morris continued on, finishing 16th to gain points and use the opportunity to test and further improve car speed.
"We made some changes to our car and its speed was excellent, and consistent. It was disappointing to cop a cut tyre so early and ruin the day, but we're heartened by the efforts of everyone and the pace of the cars. Eastern Creek will be better," Morris said.
The second V8 Supercar round takes place at Eastern Creek in Sydney on 7-9 March.
