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Glenfords Racing Endure Tough Weekend At Queensland Raceway |
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Glenfords Racing had a tough day at the office today after a strong start in race two saw Marshall lead for over a quarter of the race.
Marshall started the second race on the front row of the grid in second spot.
A brilliant start saw Marshall take the lead into turn one and begin to pull out a gap on the field as the rest battled for track position.
With a comfortable 1.8 second lead, seasoned veteran Mark Skaife slowly reeled in the Glenfords AEG Falcon and took the lead off Marshall on lap 10, although still holding a strong break over the rest of the field.
When Skaife pitted on lap 12 Marshall again took the race lead and went into the pits on lap 15, knowing a solid pit stop from the crew would see him re-enter the race well in the top five and on course for a season best finish.
However, smoke seen earlier in the race from the number 2 car hinted to a problem and by the time Marshall came in for his pit stop, a leak in the Glenfords AEG Falcon gearbox had drained all the oil, forcing the car to retire from the race which it lead.
While the team finished with a DNF for the race, the speed from Marshall in the number 20 Falcon showed that they had regained much of the pace demonstrated in the recent test and were on track for a season high finish in the race.
After replacing the gearbox between races, Marshall made a cautious start before taking Jose Fernandez on the back straight to climb a position.
After gaining positions during the pit stop, the safety car was brought out when Mark Skaife went off at turn two, with Marshall in 26th position 23 laps into the race.
On the restart Marshall was behind John Bowe and proceeded to try to find a way around the veterans Falcon while his position improved to 24th as others were forced to pit or retire with damage and mechanical problems.
Chasing Bowe, Marshall was unable to find a way around and finished the final race of round six in 24th position to place 30th for the round with 56 points.
A disappointing round at Queensland Raceway for Glenfords Raceway was highlighted by a strong showing in race two when Marshall led from turn one for the first quarter of the race in an all too brief display of where the team aims to be on a consistent basis.
Marsus Marshall: We really had some good car speed in the second race but obviously there was something wrong with the gearbox which ended our race while we were running first and in a great position to get a top ten for the race, particularly as we had a great set of tyres to see us through to the end of the race...but it didn't work out for us today which is disappointing for the team."
"The boys replaced the gearbox and in the final race we wanted to make sure we finished and got some laps under our belt. We'll head to Oran Park in a few weeks and aim to have a more consistent showing."
Paul Cruickshank: "Well it was a pretty disappointing weekend for the team, mainly because we came here expecting to make up a lot of ground but it just didn't happen today. We showed good pace in race two but we want to be consistently performing so we'll work on getting that before Oran Park in a few weeks."
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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