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Davison Dominates To Win Carrera Cup For Glenfords Racing |
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Alex Davison driving the Glenfords-DeWalt GT3 capped off a brilliant weekend by storming to victory in race three to claim his first round victory for the Glenfords Racing Carrera Cup team today at Oran Park.
Not to be outdone David Wall increased his lead in the Rookie of the year title while Jonathon Webb made an outstanding recovery after fire nearly ruined his round on Saturday.
After a strong result yesterday with victory in race one to Alex Davison in the Glenfords DeWalt Carrera Cup, the team was buoyed by the brilliant repair job on Jonathon Webb's Glenfords Makita Cup Car, which was ablaze during race one yesterday.
The Glenfords crew worked through until 3am to enable Webb to take his place on the grid this morning, albeit at the back of the field.
Davison started on pole and David Wall in eighth, but it was Davison's nemesis, Craig Baird who got the start and led into turn one.
A safety car was brought out early and the field settled, with Davison second, Wall eighth and Webb 17th after a strong first lap.
On restart Davison followed right on Baird's exhaust and Wall rose to sixth after a strong move on rookie title rival Dean Fiore while David Reynolds was forced to pit after jumping the start.
When Fiore's tyre suffered a puncture another safety car emerged and by this time Webb had charged his way up to ninth.
Wall showed great skill to find his way around veteran Jim Richards to take fifth while Davison still worked on Baird for the lead.
Making his way impressively through the field was Webb, who was on fire again but this time courtesy of his form.
Webb made a series of strong moves, confident in his car's setup and his own ability.
After also passing Richards to take sixth, Glenfords Racing had all three drivers inside the top six.
Davison, on older tyres couldn't find the grip to get around Baird who opted for his best rubber for the race in an effort to hold the charging Davison who still had his best tyres for race three.
Wall again had a strong race and continued his rapid development in the category to finish fifth.
Starting from the rear of the grid, Webb and his Glenfords-Makita Porsche showed he still had the speed of his team mates and stormed home to finish sixth, rising 13 positions in the 16 lap race.
The third race saw the three drivers confident of a strong finish to the round. Davison had saved his best rubber for the race and Webb and Wall were also confident with the grip they would get.
The start of race three saw Davison in the Glenfords-DeWalt car get a great start and lead Baird into the first turn and immediately stamp his authority on the race pulling out a huge lead, while Webb gained back the position he lost by passing David Reynolds onto turn one.
A safety car was called out and Davison's lead was no more. Webb in the Glenfords-Makita backed Porsche had climbed to fourth after Jim Richards and Luke Youlden had an incident at the end of pit straight that caused the safety car.
Wall who lost position on the start was in 10th for the restart.
Davison again pulled a gap on the field when the safety car pulled off track and showed why he was the man to beat all weekend by extending his lead to nearly four seconds to take the win and the round victory.
Webb salvaged what could have been a disastrous round by claiming fourth in the final race and seventh for the round while Wall recovered to finish ninth in race three and sixth for the round.
Davison now sits 2nd in the championship with 559 points, closing on leader Baird, while Webb salvaged enough points to sit seventh (303 points) in the championship.
David Wall in the Glenfords-Hitachi GT3 currently sits in 10th position in the championship and is tied for the lead in the Rookie of the Year race to lead on 588 points with David Russell.
Round five of the Carrera Cup championship is at Sandown Raceway, Victoria 1-3 September.
Quotes
Alex Davison "It's great to be able to deliver the team their first round win. We've been knocking o the door all year with poles, fastest laps and race wins, but this round we put it all together."
"The whole team has done a great job and this win has come at a time when we really had to step up and do it so it is really satisfying.
"To be able to drive away like that in the final race in this category is extremely satisfying and is a credit to the hard work the PCR team has put in recently.
"I couldn't fault the car they prepared for me this weekend."
Jonathon Webb "Well it was a pretty up and down weekend, we started well putting the car on the front row, which was the first time our team has filled the top two spots, but then there was some problems with the fire damage which put an end to yesterday...but then the team worked really hard and put in some seriously long hours to get me back on the road so I owe a lot to them and today was a great result from where we started."
David Wall "We had some really good pace over the weekend and are well and truly in the Rookie title race."
"I would have liked to finish the final race a little higher but I made a bad start and spent the majority of the race trying to get those spots back, but we had a strong first two races and will head to Sandown looking to go even better."
Andy McElrea (Team Manager) "We're delighted for everyone in the team and for Alex, he really set himself to win this round so to achieve that when the pressure was on him is a great effort."
"A lot of credit also should go the pit crew for fixing Jonathon's car and getting it back on the grid for race two in excellent condition.it was a phenomenal effort and they were paid back brilliantly today by Webb's drive.
"David had another strong round and is back into the top ten as well as being tied for the Rookie title so we couldn't be happier with the weekend; lap record, pole position, round win and all guys in the top ten, is a great reward for an outstanding team effort this weekend."
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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