ID :
145422
Sun, 10/10/2010 - 09:11
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/145422
The shortlink copeid
Richards ready to roll at Bathurst
(AAP) - An overnight shift and some pit lane friendliness has enabled Brad Jones Racing to revive Jason Richards' Bathurst dream.
After the New Zealander wrecked his Team BOC Commodore during Friday's practice
session at Mount Panorama, his pit crew faced a race against time to have his car
ready to take part in Sunday's Bathurst 1000 endurance event.
But in a remarkable turnaround Richards made an appearance in Saturday morning's
final practice session, finishing seventh fastest in his rebuilt car to spark hope
of an unlikely result.
It took a mammoth effort by Richards' team, who worked throughout the night on the
vehicle, as well as rival Todd Kelly making his private plane available for a run to
pick up spares from the team's Albury base to put the car back on the 6.2km Mount
Panorama circuit.
"When I had a look at it, I felt for sure that it would take us two days to get the
thing back up and running," team owner Brad Jones told AAP.
"We assessed pretty quickly we needed a right front rail for the car and we have
them laser cut at home ... then we set about working out how we were going to get it
here, how long it would take until we needed it.
"We worked out we needed the thing here about 10 o'clock and the only way to get it
here is to fly it so then we went about trying to find a plane to charter.
"Fortunately Todd Kelly came up and said we could use his plane, we chartered that
and dashed that one off down to Albury to get the bits."
Jones feels despite Richards missing qualifying and being forced to start Sunday's
race from pit lane, they had seen enough in their short practice hit-out to be
confident of pulling off a surprise.
"The biggest concern's probably Jason's confidence," he said.
"We need to get him back in the car ... Andy (Jones, co-driver) stood down and we
had Jase do the whole session and it was all about getting him comfortable in the
car.
"It'd be better not to have the accident but I still think we've got a shot tomorrow.
"I think we're going to run a very aggressive strategy to get the car into the race
and I expect it'll probably take us 60 laps or so to get us in there unless there's
a couple of safety cars, hopefully by that point we're going to be in the race.
"I think you can be in the race as long as you've got a fast car and fast drivers
and I think we've got that combination going there. I'm confident that we're going
to be competitive."
After the New Zealander wrecked his Team BOC Commodore during Friday's practice
session at Mount Panorama, his pit crew faced a race against time to have his car
ready to take part in Sunday's Bathurst 1000 endurance event.
But in a remarkable turnaround Richards made an appearance in Saturday morning's
final practice session, finishing seventh fastest in his rebuilt car to spark hope
of an unlikely result.
It took a mammoth effort by Richards' team, who worked throughout the night on the
vehicle, as well as rival Todd Kelly making his private plane available for a run to
pick up spares from the team's Albury base to put the car back on the 6.2km Mount
Panorama circuit.
"When I had a look at it, I felt for sure that it would take us two days to get the
thing back up and running," team owner Brad Jones told AAP.
"We assessed pretty quickly we needed a right front rail for the car and we have
them laser cut at home ... then we set about working out how we were going to get it
here, how long it would take until we needed it.
"We worked out we needed the thing here about 10 o'clock and the only way to get it
here is to fly it so then we went about trying to find a plane to charter.
"Fortunately Todd Kelly came up and said we could use his plane, we chartered that
and dashed that one off down to Albury to get the bits."
Jones feels despite Richards missing qualifying and being forced to start Sunday's
race from pit lane, they had seen enough in their short practice hit-out to be
confident of pulling off a surprise.
"The biggest concern's probably Jason's confidence," he said.
"We need to get him back in the car ... Andy (Jones, co-driver) stood down and we
had Jase do the whole session and it was all about getting him comfortable in the
car.
"It'd be better not to have the accident but I still think we've got a shot tomorrow.
"I think we're going to run a very aggressive strategy to get the car into the race
and I expect it'll probably take us 60 laps or so to get us in there unless there's
a couple of safety cars, hopefully by that point we're going to be in the race.
"I think you can be in the race as long as you've got a fast car and fast drivers
and I think we've got that combination going there. I'm confident that we're going
to be competitive."
