TOBIA KIPPER RACING INDY GRAND FINALE!
This week the TK Racing team, hungry to show that they will not be held down, headed to the Sunny streets of the Gold Coast for the INDY300 to compete in round 7 of the Aussie Racing Car championship.
Team TKR arrived early on Tuesday, with Kipper keen to walk the circuit and gain setup information for the MAKOTRAC Racer, with all the hard work completed between rounds in the BEL GARAGE workshop, Kipper was ready to go for the 3 race weekend.
With the weather looking like holding out and a warm sunny day greeting competitors Thursday morning, practice and qualifying were going to be a straight out fight for speed and lap times.
The early morning practice session was always going to be used by TKR as a learning session, with the MAKO TRAC racer leading out the session, looking to gain as many laps as possible to learn the demanding 4.5km Gold Coast circuit.
Kipper ran thru a number of setup changes made for the Gold Coast circuit, and reported good progress with the changes made, but was keen to make some improvements in some parts of the circuit before Qualifying.
"we decided to look at a slightly different setup from the last race, with changes made to the car to make it more like the Sandown setup" commented Kipper after the session.
"I was able to build up to a good pace, but with the red flags during the session, I didn’t really get a good lap in" said Kipper.
Qualifying was only 2 hours after the initial practice session, so it was always going to be important for the team to turn the car around quickly, and make the changes that would see Kipper racing from a good starting position for the later race 1 in the afternoon.
Kipper went out with the new setup changes and posted a very fast time on his first flying lap, confirming the changes made had been in the right direction. However the session didn't last long with it being red flagged again due to the nature of the circuit accidents are numerous. Kipper pitted, and commented to his crew " The car is a lot better, but I could do with more drive, and it is a little nervous over the bumps"
With the session restarted, Kipper pressed on to hold onto a top 10 grid slot for the first race later in the afternoon. " As we know this track is really hard on brakes, and I think after the red flag I had some heat soak issues and wasn't able to extract the ultimate lap later in the session, but we will make the car faster for the race" said Kipper, happy with his qualifying result knowing he had more car speed available.
Race 1 came around fast, with the late afternoon sun leaving a thunderstorm approaching, it was going to be touch and go if the race would be dry. Kipper got a flying start from 10th, cutting thru the field to end the safety car interrupted race 5th.
"The car was a lot better, we made a brake bias change and some key setup changes between the qualifying session and this race and they really have paid off, today's race was all about finishing, as we all know how hard these walls bite if they are not given the respect they deserve" said a happy Kipper after the race.
Starting the second race Friday morning from 5th on the grid, Kipper made a great start, and ran with the leaders for the first lap which as in the first race, had a safety car period of 2 laps due to accidents on the opening lap.
"I just ran to our race plan, with this place being so easy to make a mistake pushing too hard on the opening lap it was always going to go to a safety car" said Kipper.
With the safety car leaving the circuit after lap 4, it was a 2 lap sprint for the flag, with Kipper bringing it home in 6th, having blended at the first chicane earlier due to veteran driver P. Ward wanting to race that little bit harder than most.
"I just had to blend out of the throttle, as it was clear that Ward was not in the championship chase, and I have had problems with his less than clean racing in the past" said a happy Kipper, knowing he would start the all important final from 5th, and having fought his way back into the championship race with solid driving whilst his 3 main challengers for 2nd and 3rd had either crashed out or had poor races.
"currently we are looking to finish the final with enough of a points gap to end the year with second in the championship, although winning would be great, VIP Pet foods Paul Kemal will be hard to beat now, and I just have to finish in the top 10" said Kipper
Saturday's weather was threatening from early on, but it was only to change for the worse once the cars had formed up on the dummy grid. " we had made some more changes to the car for a dry race, but the weather rapidly closed in, and it was decided that we should make a quick change to the car to make it easier in the wet" said Kipper.
The race started well for Kipper, as he is a natural in the slippery wet conditions, charging from 6th on the first lap up to second, then on the 3rd lap while dicing with Josh Hunt, the pair were side by side into the first chicane, with Hunt out braking himself and taking Kipper over the back of the chicane. Kipper then performed the stop-go in the chicane as per the driver's briefing dropping 2 positions. "It was hard, as there was no chance for me to turn into the chicane, as Josh had it all locked up, but the rules are that you have to do the stop-go, but this does leave you open to being swamped by the rest of the field" said Kipper.
Kipper then clawed his way back up dicing with the leading 3, but with 2 laps to run there was an incident with the leading pair, forcing Kipper wide again at the final chicane, once more performing the stop-go, only this time David Seiders driving for Tucker Time, had nowhere to go and hit the back of the MAKOTRAC racer, with some damage, but luckily it was only cosmetic, with Kipper then bringing it home in 9th to end the weekend in 4th.
"Although we had better car speed than our finishing result shows, it was really a tough race, as the car was great in the full wet conditions, but as the track dried we slowly fell victim to the others" said Kipper
"This year for the team and I has been a real learning curve, and we have made many friends in the Aussie Car paddock, if you asked me at the beginning of the year if finishing 4th would be a good result, I would have taken it! But having led the championship, and after winning races, I know now that we could have done even more" said Kipper reflecting on the past year.
Kipper and Team are now looking forward to 2007, with 2006 bringing more success than they had ever planned on in such a large field with tight racing. 2006 was always going to be a learning year for TKR and they are now well poised to move up the ladder to the National Formula Ford Championship.
With Kipper winning races in the all important Final in Oran Park and Sandown Raceway, and also setting a stunning Pole Position also at Sandown, 2006 has been a runway success with a steep upward trend in each round.
|
News 
