Richos coup pays dividends

Tough day at the office

Steve Richards made a fabulous recovery in today's V8 Supercar Championship racing at Hidden Valley, whilst the heat put pays to team-mate Mark Winterbottom's great run.

Qualifying 23rd for this afternoon's race Richo was frustrated by the Castrol FPR Falcon's continued poor handling. Pre-race changes however saw him cruise from the back to the front of the race, challenging for sixth after completing both pit stops by 1/3 distance.

"Something that we changed between qualifying and the race has transformed the car because you can't drive from 23rd to the front on strategy alone; there's got to be something else," said Richo. "Dan, my engineer, was keeping me informed of the fact that we were making ground and that we would probably come out in the top five after all the pit stops were settled. I was driving hard but conservatively because I knew I had to do a long stint with the same tyres."

Nursing the tyres could not help him in the last ten laps, however, when a safety car came out and bunched the field. "We were on our tyres for 25 laps longer than anyone else so they just wore out; there was no grip left," said Richo. "Had that safety car not happened we would have had enough of a gap in the last nine laps to only lose one or two positions instead of five."

Frosty, meanwhile, qualified an excellent third but engine dramas, possibly a result of the extreme temperatures, saw him finish the race 17th.  "It wasn't an easy drive," said Frosty. "The engine felt like we lost a lot of horse power; it had nothing down the straight. There was a big vibration on lap one before it just went and then it got worse and worse and worse.  By lap ten it got really bad and was just misfiring."

The FPR team will be back on track in two week's time in Townsville, Queensland.

2009 Skycity Triple Crown
HIDDEN VALLEY RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS - RACE 10 QUALIFYING
1. Garth Tander, HRT, 1:09.7929*
2. Craig Lowndes, 888, +0.1119
3. Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, +0.1725
4. Todd Kelly, Kelly Racing, +0.2553
5. Lee Holdsworth, GRM, +0.3071
6. Michael Caruso, GRM, 0.3203

23. Steve Richards, Castrol FPR Falcon

2009 Skycity Triple Crown
HIDDEN VALLEY RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS - RACE 10
1. Michael Caruso, GRM
2. Alex Davison, SBR
3. Craig Lowndes, 888
4. Rick Kelly, Kelly Racing
5. Garth Tander, HRT
6. Paul Dumbrell, TWR
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14. Steven Richards, Castrol FPR Falcon
17. Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon