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Adelaide Adventure Awaits Alajajian And Protecnica Racing |
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Tuesday, 12 September 2006 |
| Attachment 17040 |
| After a strong showing at Oran Park Raceway last month, Protecnica Racing and Chris Alajajian head to South Australia this weekend, for Round 5 of the 2006 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series at Mallala Motorsport Park, accompanied by a little bit of added confidence. (Protecnica Racing / Dirk Klynsmith Photo) |
After a strong showing at Oran Park Raceway last month, Protecnica Racing and Chris Alajajian head to South Australia this weekend, for Round 5 of the 2006 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series at Mallala Motorsport Park, accompanied by a little bit of added confidence.
In just their second round in the series, the Sydneysiders starred at Oran Park. Alajajian qualified inside the Top 10, and was on-course for a podium finish in Race 3, before being caught out on a patch of oil. He dropped from third place to finish a still-credible seventh aboard the Jack Hillermans / Elf Lubricants Commodore.
“We have shown that we are capable of running at the front,” said
Alajajian. “It exceeded our expectations of where we thought we would
be, but it was a good feeling to be passing cars and running that high
in the order.
“It didn’t work out unfortunately when I hit the oil late in the race
and spun, but the run up until that point gives us some extra
confidence to know what we can achieve.
“While we are keen to show that Oran Park wasn’t a fluke, we’re still
looking at the rest of this year as a learning exercise. It’s another
weekend to gain experience and continue to learn.
“When we get out onto the track, it’s a completely new round. It won’t
matter where you finished or what you did last time, so I’m going to
focus on what I need to do this weekend which will give us the most
positive outcome.”
Alajajian has previously raced twice at Mallala. In 2004, he scored a
pair of second-place finishes in the Australian Production Car
Championship, and last year finished on the podium in the Australian
Formula 3 Championship.
In late April 2006, the 2.6km circuit
was also the scene of Alajajian’s first handful of laps behind the
wheel of a V8 Supercar, when he drove Protecnica Racing’s VZ Commodore
in a handover session.
“It felt like a boat, when I first got into the car after driving the
F3 car,” the 19 year-old says,” but now I’ve grown accustomed to it.
Looking back on that day, my perspective on the car has obviously
changed a lot and I’m learning all the time what it takes to drive a
Supercar well.
“The Turn 5 hairpin is particularly important at Mallala. It’s at the
end the long back straight, so you arrive there with a lot of speed,
which means you need to be particularly careful with your braking.”
Like Alajajian, Protecnica Racing team owner Scott Anderson is eager
for the round to get underway at Mallala, which has played host to some
of the teams most memorable moments.
“Mallala has been involved in some of our big milestones as a team,”
Anderson said. “We’ll always look back fondly on the weekend in 2004
when we won the GTP title with Justin Hemmes. It was our first GTP
Championship after coming close a couple of times, and it was even
sweeter because we had to work for it and rebuild the car on Saturday
night because of a crash.
“Then, earlier this year, the handover day was a big milestone for us
in this project. We took control of the car and had our first, albeit
small, hands-on taste of a V8 Supercar.
“A lot of work was done to get to that day and a lot of work has been
done since, and I think Oran Park definitely showed we are making good
progress. I’m pleased with how far we’ve come, and we're looking
forward to getting back out there this weekend and keeping it going."
As a stand alone round of the 2006 series, practice and qualifying will
be held on Saturday, before three races on Sunday. Races 1 and 2 will
be contested across 16 laps, with the second a full reverse-grid, with
Race 3 scheduled for 28 laps.
Protecnica Racing thanks the ongoing support of Jack Hillermans Smash, Elf Lubricants and Nudie Juices.
For more about Chris Alajajian, head to www.TheChris.com.au
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Last Updated ( Friday, 29 December 2006 )
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