An
improved lap time of over one and a half seconds was crucial at the
Taupo Motorsport Park when at the weekend Nick Ross blazed the Total
Lubricants Commodore across the finish line clocking up another podium
place for the season finishing third in the final race of the day.
"I really enjoyed the last race it's nice to be on the pace. We started
from the front and it's nice to know that once we're there we can keep
up with these guys." said the Cambridge driver.
"I thought Boothie would have roared away in front of me but no and the
only reason he got past me was because I missed a gear entering the
straight. I was keeping up with him but then McLaughlin came along and
there was no keeping up with him."
"The way those two were going I thought he and Booth were going to take
each other out." he said.
It was quite a contrast from the opening race of the weekend where Ross
expertly avoided a first corner incident only to be foiled later on in
the race by colliding into a pack of cars at the esses when they had
become halted in an incident while going through there.
"I got caught up in the first turn incident but managed to avoid it.
Later on in the race I was chasing a group of cars down the back
straight and went to turn the corner and they had all stopped and I
went into the back of that lot! Well, they shouldn't have been there by
the time I got there." he laughed.
Ross went through for another lap but took the car into the pits where
they found he had put a hole in the radiator which resulted in a
did-not-finish for the team.
In the second race Ross came from the very back of the field and with
good pace was able to pick off some of the slower cars ahead. He
managed to recover to a creditable 14th place before crossing the
finish line.
"I was happy with the second one, I had to start from the back because
of the DNF. A few cars ahead of us started picking off each other and I
managed to pick off a few positions and move up." said Ross.
"It could have been a very different story had we not had that DNF but
it was a good weekend overall although we could have done better in
qualifying. We actually made a one and a half second gain in the car
which we were all really happy about but not overly happy with where we
finished up in 14th place (in qualifying)." he said.
The podium helped keep Ross close to the target of taking a top 10
position for the season where the earlier DNF had made it look as
though it could have been a little more difficult. Ross still stands in
12th position overall moving in front of Simon Richards who he was
earlier tied with.
One more round remains for the BNT V8 Championship and Ross is
expecting to once again make a big impact at the ITM400 in Hamilton
much like he did last year when he placed sixth overall with three top
10 race finishes there.
"We're still in there and it's not far to the top 10 so we just need to
pull out the good performance at Hamilton like we usually do and it's
all on. And a big thanks to Dale Harvey for stepping up and taking the
position of race engineer for the weekend he did extremely well." said
Ross.
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Nick
Ross' campaign in the 2010-11 BNTV8s is supported by
Total Lubricants, ENZED Waikato & Pukekohe franchises,
Porter Hire, Stingray Marine, Auto Trail Ltd, Teng
Tools
Waikato Car
Rentals, C&R Developments, Classic Cover Insurance, Leamington Auto
Electrical
Hotshot Signs, Strautmann Hopkins, Truck Rentals
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