SBR claws back into opening Winton race
Round 8, Winton Motor Raceway, Benalla, VIC

Stone Brothers Racing drivers James Courtney and Shane van Gisbergen have clawed their way back from this morning’s tough qualifying session, the pair making up 16 positions between them in this afternoon’s 40-lap race.

Courtney raced his JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon into tenth position after starting from 17th on the grid. A great start saw the Gold Coast-based driver up to 12th before the compulsory pit stop window opened on lap six.

Courtney pitted on lap nine and rejoined the race behind Rick Kelly, settling into 11th as the field completed their stops.

The JELD-WEN Motorsport driver hustled Kelly for over 15 laps, finally throwing the SBR BF Falcon up the inside of the HSV driver on lap 31 to claim tenth position.

Courtney’s team-mate van Gisbergen had his work cut out for him in race one. The young Kiwi started from 24th on the grid in a repaired SP Tools Racing Falcon following yesterday’s altercation with a wall.

The SP Tools Racing driver made a steady start, chipping away at the field as the SBR crew decided to run him on a long pit stop strategy.

Van Gisbergen completed his stop on lap 16 and rejoined the race to find himself in the middle of a battle pack with Craig Lowndes, Paul Dumbrell and Paul Morris.

The SP Tools Racing driver took advantage of a move by Lowndes on lap 20 and followed the fellow Ford driver through, hustling past Dumbrell and Morris.

The Ford duo caught up to Mark Skaife and van Gisbergen hounded the Holden driver in the closing ten laps of the race after Lowndes made a successful pass.

Van Gisbergen finally got Skaife over the start-finish line at the beginning of the final lap, only for the Holden driver to pass the 19-year-old two corners later, with Morris also slipping through.

The SP Tools Racing Falcon eventually finished in 15th position.

Courtney and van Gisbergen will be aiming to climb their way further up the order in races two and three tomorrow at Winton Motor Raceway, starting at 10:55am and 1:35pm respectively.

In the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, SBR’s Jonathon Webb climbed to sixth in race one after qualifying in ninth position earlier in the day.

James Courtney, #4, JELD-WEN Motorsport
“We made the best of it this afternoon. We didn’t qualify well so we had to treat today’s race as a stepping stone back into the weekend.

“I said at the start of the weekend that we would have a good race car and we were able to get back to 10th today which was what we hoped to do.

“We improved the JELD-WEN Falcon after qualifying and if we can make the same gains again for tomorrow we will be able to sneak up there by the end of the weekend and grab some good points.”

Shane van Gisbergen, #9, SP Tools Racing
“We had a few issues in qualifying this morning but the guys did a great job to get the SP Tools Racing Falcon back on the track after yesterday.

“The car was better in the race this afternoon and we had some good speed before the pit stop.

“I was able to follow Lowndes for a while and follow him through.

“I haven’t had many laps here yet so I spent a bit of time watching other drivers, changing my lines a bit and it all helped.

“The SP Falcon is good on tyres and we picked up nine positions today; we think we can be on it again tomorrow.”

V8 Supercars – Race 1
1. Jamie Whincup
2. Will Davison
3. Garth Tander
4. Jason Richards
5. Steven Richards
6. Lee Holdsworth
7. Todd Kelly
8. Russell Ingall
9. Michael Caruso
10. James Courtney
15. Shane Van Gisbergen     

V8 Supercars – Qualfiying
1. Mark Winterbottom 1:22.9727
2. Jamie Whincup 1:23.3699
3. Will Davison 1:23.3950
4. Garth Tander 1:23.4144
5. Lee Holdsworth 1:23.4243
6. Steven Richards 1:23.4651
7. Michael Caruso 1:23.5305
8. Rick Kelly 1:23.6947
9. Shane Price 1:23.8438
10. Jason Richards 1:23.8788
17. James Courtney 1:23.9262
24. Shane Van Gisbergen 1:24.3978

Fujitsu V8 Supercars – Race 1
1. Dean Canto
2. Steve Owen
3. Jack Perkins
4. Michael Trimble
5. David Reynolds
6. Jonathon Webb
7. Tim Slade
8. Geoff Emery
9. Karl Reindler
10. Sam Walter    

Fujitsu V8 Supercars - Qualifying
1. Steve Owen 1:24.0427
2. Dean Canto 1:24.1493
3. Jack Perkins 1:24.2978
4. Dale Wood 1:24.7266
5. Michael Trimble 1:24.8719
6. David Reynolds 1:24.9212
7. Sam Walter 1:25.1072
8. Tim Slade 1:25.1307
9. Jonathon Webb 1:25.1992
10. Geoff Emery 1:25.2034