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Pretty Crowned World Champion Ahead of Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Final |
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Monday, 04 December 2006 |
 Mack/Smiths Trucks Holden V8 Supercar star Nathan Pretty has been crowned World Champion ahead of this weekend’s Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series final at Phillip Island.
Pretty won his world title by winning the Group A category in the UIM World Jetsprint Boat Championships, a three round series held in Australia over the past three weeks and contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
Driving True Blue Too built by renowned boat builder Col Parish for Dixon Family Racing, 33-year-old Pretty dominated the series, winning the first two rounds held at Melton, Griffith before completing a clean sweep of the championships under lights in Albury on Saturday night.
“It’s an incredible feeling, just bloody awesome,” Pretty said.
“Coming
into the final there was a lot of pressure to perform, especially with
over 40 boats in the field. Our first goal was to get into the top 16,
then the top eight.
“When we got into the top four run-off the
title was all sewn up, but I was so focussed on winning that in the
final run we were able to set a time that was only one second off the
best Superboat time, and they’ve got 350hp more than the Group A boats.
“To
win the final in the way we did, and to win all three rounds of the
series was a credit to Col Parish and the team who prepared a fantastic
boat.”
Pretty said he will use his win as motivation for this weekend’s Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series final round.
“Going
from the jetsprint boat to a V8 Supercar is going to be difficult, but
the success I’ve enjoyed over the last three weeks is more than enough
motivation for me to end the V8 year on a high,” Pretty said.
“Driving
the Mack/Smiths Trucks Holden Commodore V8 Supercar requires a
different kind of skill compared to the jetsprint boat, but Phillip
Island is a fast, flowing circuit so I don’t think it will take too
long to get back into the groove.”
Currently sixth in Fujitsu
Series points, Pretty said he was looking for a return to form
following a disappointing last round at Bathurst where an engine
failure took him out of contention when running second.
“Our car
was very good at Bathurst and we’ve got some excellent data for Phillip
Island, so I expect we’ll be at the pointy end again. If we can keep it
all together, a podium finish isn’t out of the equation.”
Practice
for this weekend’s final round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series gets
underway on Friday, with qualifying and the first of two 30-minute
races being held Saturday. The final Fujitsu V8 Supercar race of the
season takes place Sunday.
Network Ten will telecast a one-hour
highlights package from this round on Sunday, 17 December - check your
local guides for full details.
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