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13^th March, 2002
Rd 1 pre-qualifying

Stars emerge unscathed from Mallala

  V8 Supercar officialdom breathed a sigh of relief this afternoon, as the stars of the sport all survived a cutthroat pre-qualifying session at Mallala Raceway for this weekend's Clipsal 500.

It was a perilous but, ultimately, a relatively easy passage to Clipsal 500 qualification for eleven drivers, including reigning V8 series champion Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes, Neil Crompton, Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly.

Skaife, not surprisingly, left nothing to chance, clocking the fastest time of the day, a 1:07.46min lap, to secure his rightful place on the Adelaide grid.

Briggs Motorsport's Tony Longhurst, on the other hand, came dangerously close to eviction, only managing the eleventh fastest time.  Teammate Simon Wills was third quickest.

Four drivers were culled from the field: Tomas Mezera, Greg Crick, Dugal McDougall and Ross Halliday.  Imrie Motorsport's Mezera was more than half a second off Longhurst's time.

John Bowe, fourth fastest today in an impressive performance, said it was a nail-biting experience for all concerned.

"Before the session started, I hadn't felt that nervous since Oran Park in 1995 when I was chasing (Peter) Brock and (Glenn) Seton for the championship," the OzEmail racer said.

Wayne Gardner, sixth fastest in his Stone Brothers Racing-prepared Caltex Falcon, said the extra testing time will be of enormous benefit to him this weekend.

"It's obviously pleasing for myself, the team and our sponsors to be in the field for the Clipsal 500, but I guess the really pleasing thing is the amount of gains we made today," said Gardner.

Practice for the Clipsal 500, the opening round of the 2002 V8 Supercar Championship Series, begins on Friday morning.

 CLIPSAL 500 : PRE-QUALIFYING