PRACTICE ONE
TIME: 10:00-10:30
CONDITIONS: Sunny, light winds
FINISHED: 8th - 1:12.9401
FASTEST: James Courtney: 1:12.6292
PRACTICE TWO
TIME: 11:25-11:55
CONDITIONS: Sunny, moderate winds
FINISHED: 14th - 1:12.7947
FASTEST: Cameron Waters - 1:12.3392
QUALIFYING – RACE 22
TIME: 12:45
CONDITIONS: Sunny, moderate winds
FINISHED: 6th - 1:12.3413
FASTEST: Scott McLaughlin – 1:12.0144
RACE 22 / 39 LAPS
TIME: 15:40
CONDITIONS: Sunny, hot, moderate winds
FINISHED: 12th
WINNER: Scott McLaughlin
RECAP
The second part of our Townsville double-header and after several weeks trying to diagnose some technical issues with the Black Duck Commodore, a legacy of that monster hit in Darwin, finally the car was perfect straight out of the box and boy didn’t Todd put it to good use in qualifying with a brilliant Top Ten Shootout lap that netted sixth on the grid.
Massive issue at the start though – the car went nowhere – the clutch going straight to the floor! Suddenly what started as a shot at the podium became a very different challenge from the back of the field. He was fired up though, picking off the tail of the field with pace and determination.
Car #14 pitted from p11 but it wasn’t plain sailing. With no clutch, Todd had to coast into place in neutral and then the car had to be pushed out. Out in p19 with four new tyres on lap 20, Todd was in a good position to attack and the Black Duck Commodore finished the race in an excellent 12th. Considering that it was sitting dead last on the first lap, it was a hell of a recovery drive and truly a case of what might have been.
On to tomorrow now, with two races and hopefully one working clutch!
THE WORD FROM TODD
“Disappointing not to capitalise on what was a fast car today, we worked really hard in quali and put ourselves in a real racey position. Unfortunately I was doing my standard procedure coming to the grid, where we warm the clutch up and get ready for the race start. I felt something let go on the way to the grid so knew instantly I was in trouble and going to have an issue launching it off the start line feeding it to first.
We had to do the whole race with no clutch, which was a challenge. Once we got through the pit stop we just had to manage it the best we could and the team did a great job. Great recovery considering the dramas we had to come from last to p12.
On a positive we have a fast car and hopefully will make amends for tomorrow!
COMING UP
SUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
09:40-09:50 | Qualifying – Race 23
10:00-10:10 | Qualifying – Race 24
12:05 |Race 23 / 39 Laps
14:40 | Race 24 / 39 Laps
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