SANDOWN PROVES TO BE CHALLENGING FOR WSR

Norton 360 Sandown Challenge
Sandown Raceway
18th - 20th November, 2011

FRIDAY 18TH NOVEMBER

V8 Supercars and the support categories headed to down town Melbourne at Sandown Raceway for the 2nd last round of the 2011 season.

V8 Supercars:

The heat was certainly turned on for the start of the weekend.

The day consisted of 4 practice sessions, the first two for the bottom 50% of the field and the final two for the entire field.

P1  -  3rd     1:11:34

P2  -  11th   1:11:89

P3  -  3rd     1:10:96

A cracked crossed member found by the team at the end of P3 prevented TD from taking part in P4.

Development Series:

The day consisted of two practice sessions for the DVS cars.

David was 16th fastest in the first session (1:14:22) and although the car was greatly improved for the second session had to settle for 14th on a 1:13:05, over a second faster than the previous session.

Touring Car Masters:

JB started the weekend off in his usual form, finishing practice as the fastest man on the track and the only one in the 1:18's (1:18:88)

SATURDAY 19TH NOVEMBER

V8 Supercars:

Qualifying was in the rain and as a result spread the field by over three and a half seconds.  TD qualified 24th  (1:22:10)  and about 2 seconds off the pace of the fastest man on the track being Rick Kelly.

Qualifying Results

1.  R Kelly   
2.  Whincup   
3.  W Davison
4.  Van Gisbergen   
5.  Slade
6.  Reynolds   
7.  Dumbrell   
8.  Courtney
9.  Owen   
10.  Tander

Race 25 of the Championship had TD starting from 24th.  A good start saw him move up one position into 23rd.  A safety car on lap 7 provided the opportunity for a quick fuel stop and TD gained another position in pit lane to be 22nd.

Torrential rain on lap 11 made the racing really quite scary for even the professional drivers.  TD passed through turn 2 and then unfortunately found the car had no turn into turn 3, glancing the wall and puncturing a tyre.  In the pits the team discovered a broken upright which ended the race for TD and resulted in a DNF.

The race was nothing short of  action packed with 4 safety car periods totalling 10 laps.

Race 25 Results

1.  R Kelly   
2.  Courtney   
3.  T Kelly
4.  W Davison   
5.  Van Gisbergen
6.  Lowndes   
7.  Winterbottom
8.  Tander   
9.  Coulthard   
10.  Owen

Development Series:

A very wet track saw the qualifying session red flagged twice with cars running off the track.  David Wall posted his best time  (1:22:60) on his 11th lap to place him 10th fastest.

Qualifying Results

1.  Mostert   
2.  Perkins   
3.  Russell
4.  Thompson   
5.  Percat

David Wall started from position 10 for race 1.  David did well to avoid a lap 1 incident between Morris and Douglas which brought out the safety car.  Driving well David kept pace with Blanchard and made Thompson work hard for his track position.  He finished up two places in 8th.

Race 1 Results

1.  Perkins   
2.  Mostert   
3.  Percat
4.  Russell   
5.  McLaughlin

Touring Car Masters:

The old bangers hit the very wet track for practice and JB finished the session 3rd fastest 1:27:42.

Qualifying was also in the rain and JB had to settle for 2nd fastest on 1:31:53, believe it or not a second behind pole sitter Miedecke who clearly had a handle on his car in the wet.

Qualifying Results

1.  Miedecke   
2.  John Bowe   
3.  Edwards
4.  Stack   
5.  Keene

Race 1 was in extremely wet conditions with very poor visibility.  After starting from 2nd JB managed to make his way into the lead early and finished 1st.  Great result which unfortunately will cost him 300 revs for the next race.

Race 1 Results

1.  Bowe   
2.  Miedecke   
3.  Edwards
4.  Jane   
5.  Alexander

SUNDAY 20TH NOVEMBER

V8 Supercars

The conditions for qualifying for race 26 were very different to the session the previous day.  A dry track and no sign of rain and TD was well inside the top ten early.  Some errors late in the session saw Tony having to settle for 19th (1:10:38)

Qualifying Results

1.  Whincup   
2.  Winterbottom   
3.  Holdsworth   
4.  Lowndes
5.  Van Gisbergen   
6.  W Davison
7.  Caruso   
8.  Dumbrell
9.  Slade   
10.  Moffat

TD started race 26 from P19 and quickly fought his way up the 12th in the early laps.  A rear tyre issue mid race saw him drop back to virtually the rear of the field before fighting his way back to finish 18th.

Race 26 Results

1.  Whincup   
2.  Winterbottom   
3.  W Davison   
4.  Lowndes
5.  Tander   
6.  Van Gisbergen
7.  Slade   
8.  Holdsworth
9.  R Kelly   
10.  Owen

Tony D'Alberto  -  WSR Driver Car #3

"I just aquaplaned at turn three and went straight into the fence. The car didn't turn. I think I must have hit a puddle. There was nothing I could do."

"We didn't qualify well, but we were actually going OK in the race. When the car hit the fence, that was the end of it."

"In today's race, I got up to 12th, which was OK, but the rear tyres went off like crazy. I went backwards at a great rate of knots. "

"In the last Safety Car, we came in and put new tyres on it, and made up a few spots. We probably got out of it better than we thought."

AL D'ALBERTO (team owner)

"There were some glimmers of hope, but there was nothing for us to crow about."

"We had every type of weather thrown at us this weekend - from belting heat to belting rain! We proved to be fast on Friday, but a broken cross member cost us a chance to compete in the last session, and for whatever reason, we never recovered."

"Now we have a small two week break before the final event at Homebush, which is one that myself and the team are looking forward to.

Development Series

DW hit the track for race 2 for the weekend.  A reverse grid start for the top ten saw David start from P3.  Making a great start David was well placed entering turn 1 but was unfortunately tagged in the rear by Russell which sent him into a spin, into the path of other cars and eventually into the wall.  A very unhappy DW had to settle for a DNF and will unfortunately not be able to compete in the 3rd and final race for the weekend.

Race 2 Results

1.  Thompson   
2.  Blanchard   
3.  Morris
4.  Youlden   
5.  Emery

With Car #83 unable to be repaired, DW was a spectator for race 3 and final DVS race for the weekend.

Race 3 Results

1.  Thompson   
2.  Mostert   
3.  Perkins
4.  McLaughlin   
5.  Russell

Touring Car Masters

Conditions for the TCM races were very different to the previous day.  Race 2 was a reverse grid start for the top ten so JB started from 10th.  He worked his way through the field to finish 2nd which resulted in another 200rev reduction for race 3.

Race 2 Results

1.  Richards   
2.  Bowe   
3.  Miedecke
4.  Jane   
5.  Edwards

Race 3 was still in much warmer dry conditions and JB performed well to lead the race and  finish 1st.

Race 3 Results

1.  Bowe   
2.  Jane   
3.  Richards
4.  Edwards   
5.  Stack

John Bowe  -  WSR Driver Car #18 TCM

"I love the Sandown track and have had some terrific results there over a 30 year period.  After some serious thought and some serious money , Sally turned up at Sandown with a different set up philosophy .  We weren't quickest in every session but we were always in the top two so it obviously worked pretty well."

"The qualifying session was as difficult conditions as I have ever experienced since Bathurst in 92 .  It was truly dangerous with visibility only to the end of the bonnet at best .

Its times like that a bloke questions his sanity !  Full credit to Andrew Meidecke who seems to be the rain master , he grabbed pole in the atrocious conditions just as he did at Bathurst."

"The races went well for Sally though and I ended up with two firsts and a second. "

Championship Standings:

Drivers

1.    Whincup                         3033
2.    Lowndes                         2845
3.    Winterbottom                  2449
4.    Van Gisbergen               2414
5.    Tander                           2388
6.    W Davison                      2345
7.    R Kelly                            2211
8.    Holdsworth                     1857
9.    A Davison                       1781
10.  Coulthard                       1767

TD  -  25th  -  1045

Teams

1.    Team Vodafone                  5903
2.    FPR                                     4819
3.    SBR                                    4270
4.    Toll/HRT                             4140
5.    Jack Daniels Racing           3670

WSR  -  15th  -  1163

DVS

1.    Thompson                    1617
2.    Russell                          1384
3.    Perkins                          1340
4.    McLaughlin                    1263
5.    Blanchard                      1112

13th  -  David Wall  -  631