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| Round 6 of the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series at Queensland Raceway was mission accomplished for Ravage Racing’s Dean Lillie - the Victorian team gaining valuable knowledge and experience in their first Ute outing since 2003. (Ravage Racing / Daniel Kalisz Photo) |
Round 6 of the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series at Queensland Raceway was all about learning for Ravage Racing’s Dean Lillie.
The weekend was Lillie’s first run in the popular class since 2003, with the Victorian electing to run the final three rounds of the year in preparation for a full campaign in 2007.
Starting strongly, Lillie steered the LPGAS1 Holden SS Ute to the 12th fastest time in the opening practice session - his first drive of a Ute for almost three years - with a lap of 1:27.6081. In the competitive field, it was under a tenth of a second shy of ninth place.
Following practice sessions saw further improvements in laptimes, with Lillie getting down to a time of 1:26.6832 in qualifying to secure 16th place on the grid.
“It’s very close in the group I’m in at the moment,” Lillie said after
qualifying. “I did a 1:26.8 lap, and five cars ahead of me were all in
the 1:26.7’s, so I’m pleased with where we are after one day in the car.
“We had a couple of little niggling issues on Friday, with some
overheating and a broken part in the rear of the car which really
affected the handling, but we fixed those overnight and it was a lot
better for Practice 3.
“Our times were about the same as Friday, but almost everyone else was slower due to the higher temperatures.
“Having been out of a Ute and in the HSV GTS for so long, I had
forgotten how much you need to drive the Utes on the throttle. So I’m
re-learning the mentality of driving them as we go.
“Compared to when I last raced in the class, the brakes are excellent.
Overall, the cars are a lot stiffer in the suspension, and more
positive to drive.”
Sunday saw a continuation of the teams productive run. In the first of
three races, Lillie made strong progress, moving from 16th on the grid
to finish 12th, just outside of the Top 10.
Plans for more gains were thwarted in Race 2 by overheating and, later, a broken gear lever, which dropped Lillie to 17th.
“After Race 1, we changed the tyres around and it was looking good,”
Lillie explained. “I didn’t get a great start and lost a couple of
spots, but was able to regain those before it started to overheat.
“It got up to over 120 degrees, so I had to start short-shifting and
getting out of the draft to try and cool it down, which let a couple of
cars get past me. During the Safety Car period I turned the heater on
full-blast, which knocked some heat out of the engine, brought the
temperature back down a bit, so I made back some of the ground.
“Then on the last lap the gear lever broke and I was stuck in third
gear, which allowed Damien White and Ian McAlister to get past me.”
In Race 3, Lillie was running comfortably in 14th place as the field
entered the second half of the race. However, a flat tyre intervened
shortly after, with 'Howzat' finishing the shortened race in 21st place
after a pitstop.
“It was pretty frenetic early, so I played it cautiously and let a
couple of them past, to avoid damaging the car,” Lillie explained. “I
had a good battle with Ian McAlister for a couple of laps, and then got
back past him.
“While we were behind the Safety Car, the car started to feel a bit
strange and it turned out that the left rear tyre was flat. There was a
hole in it, almost like a nail or something had gone through it, so we
had to pit and replace it which cost us a lot of time.
“When we got back out there I was about half a lap behind the pack, but
starting to catch the guys ahead of me before the Red Flag came out.”
The next round of the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series will also be held
in the Sunshine State, at the Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast,
between October 19-22.
“We’ve done everything we wanted to do this weekend, so I’m pretty
happy with how it went,” Lillie reflected. “We learnt a lot during the
weekend, which is the main goal for this year; it’s about getting on
top of things before next season.
“It’s a pretty good base that we have to build on, so we’ll go home and
do a little bit of work on the suspension and engine, and do some more
homework based on what we learnt this weekend. Bring on Indy."
Just around the corner, though, Lillie’s next race meeting will be in
two weeks time (September 15-17) at Mallala Motorsport Park, where he
will race the LPGAS1 HSV GTS in the STS Turbo Australian Performance
Car Championship.
Ravage Racing thanks LPGAS1, Sprintgas and Ravage Racing Services for their support.
For more information about Ravage Racing, visit www.ravageracing.com.au
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