by

2^nd March, 2002

Race Two, and an ominous Bright's GP blitz continues

Jason Bright continued his ideal preparation for the upcoming championship series today, winning the second Grand Prix V8 Supercar Challenge race at Albert Park.

The Holden Racing Team was in ominous form in the 25-minute sprint, Bright cruising to a comfortable victory in wet, difficult conditions ahead of his teammate, Mark Skaife.

It was a lively start to the race, with the factory Holdens dicing with the Dick Johnson Racing duo of Steven Johnson and Paul Radisich.

Johnson won the start, but was soon all-too-easily reeled in by Bright in a clever switchback manoeuvre on the first lap.  Skaife, who came from fifth on the grid with a terrific start, also muscled past the Shell Falcon on the second-last corner.

Radisich went on to finish on the podium, while a slight mistake from Johnson mid-race saw him shuffled back to seventh, before plummeting outside the top ten over the closing laps.

Russell Ingall and Greg Murphy engaged in an entertaining duel, with Ingall the eventual winner to claim fourth.  Craig Lowndes, from twelfth on the grid, slipped past Murphy late in the race to take fifth.

Team Betta Electrical’s Tony Longhurst spun out of contention on the opening lap at turn three with a touch from Paul Weel.  A luckless Marcos Ambrose also spun on the same corner, in an unrelated incident.

“I just had to put my head down and get the best result possible,” said Ambrose, who stormed through the field from 23rd after the spin to finish inside the top ten.

Cameron McLean’s charge up the order ended on lap three when his demister failed and he was forced to pit.  Steven Ellery, Rodney Forbes and David Besnard (battle-scarred after a clash with Steven Richards) all failed to finish.

Bright said after the race that his Commodore performed well on Dunlop's grooved tread, its first competitive trial.

"The car was working great and the wet weather tyres hung in pretty well, even though I was pushing hard all the way because I knew a couple of cars had changed to slicks and might have been quicker as the track dried," he said.

And they were.  Lansvale Racing Team’s Cameron McConville reverted to slick tyres after the warm-up and, starting the race from pitlane, disposed of more than half the field to finish 14th.

“The trick was to stay on the black stuff for the first five laps as it was very greasy on slicks,” said McConville.

With an all-Ferrari front-row for the Formula One Grand Prix, tomorrow looks set to be another red-letter day at Albert Park.  The V8s raise the curtain on the Grand Prix with a final 20-minute showdown at 10:40am.

 AGP V8 SUPERCAR CHALLENGE - RACE TWO