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Thursday, 31 August 2006 |
Briscoe lines up for V8 Supercar race debut
HOLDEN front-runners Mark Skaife and Garth Tander will pair up for the first time in the Holden Racing Team’s #2 Commodore at Sandown this weekend.
Tander replaces Todd Kelly as Skaife’s usual partner while Jim Richards and young international Ryan Briscoe will share HRT’s #22 Commodore.
Although Skaife and Tander have been fierce rivals on the track, both are looking forward to performing well as a tandem in the first of this year’s big endurance events.
“Make no mistake about it, the Sandown 500 will be good fun, as it
always has been, despite some unpredictable weather,” Skaife said.
“I’ve had some great tussles over the years and looking for more of the same this Sunday.
“Commodore #2 will be a strong contender on the weekend as it has been all year.
“Garth and I did plenty of laps at last week’s Winton test and we’ve got seating and comfort organised to suit both of us.
“The car was spot on and this should translate to Sandown.”
Tander says that “no matter the final driver combination for HRT, we were always going to end up with strong pairings.
“Mark and I have been in the game for a good while now and we know what is expected.
“Neither of us is worried about number one status as we will fulfill
certain roles in the make up of the team with whatever changeable
weather is thrown into the mix as the weekend progresses.
“I enjoy Sandown and love racing at a place we don’t visit very often.
There’s always plenty going on with the likelihood of interesting
results.”
Similarly, veteran Richards is more than pleased to share his
experience with youngster Briscoe, who is yet to race a V8 Supercar on
any circuit in Australia and admits that Sandown represents a huge
learning curve.
“I’ve had plenty of test laps at Winton last week and good advice from
Jim, Mark and Garth has not gone astray,” says Briscoe, who landed back
in Australia today (Wednesday) after being taken out by another
competitor in the weekend’s IRL IndyCar race at Sears Point, California.
“It’s great to be back racing in Australia. I’ve never raced at Sandown
or Bathurst at all so I’ll try and make the most of Sandown to get as
many laps in as possible and build my experience.
“I don’t expect to set the world on fire in the two races. But if we
can stay on the lead lap and be a chance at the end of the day, we’ll
have done a good job.”
Richards, who will perform double duty this weekend by driving his
Porsche in the Carrera Cup support races, thinks the #22 car could
surprise many.
“I think you need to be paired with a regular driver and in Ryan we’ve
got a bloke with international experience who will go well,” said
Richards.
“We’ll be sneaking along through the races and to finish in the first half dozen would be a good effort.”
HRT has a strong record in the Sandown 500. It finished second last
year with Skaife and Kelly and the combination won the event in 2003.
Richards, meanwhile, is a two-time winner of the event – in 1985 and then again in 1989 when he partnered Skaife to victory.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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