11 October 2009
MCNALLY AND RICCIARDELLO RUN SMART RACE FOR 17TH AT BATHURST

West Australians Mark McNally and Tony Ricciardello have driven a smart race to finish 17th in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama today.

The pairing had their #16 Hi-Tec Oils Holden Commodore running on the lead lap for most of the race, with Race Engineer Oscar Fiorinotto making several smart calls on the team’s race strategy to keep the entry in the top 10.

Unfortunately a late-race spin from Ricciardello at The Chase dropped the down the order and brought about the final Safety Car of the day, denying the West Aussies a come-from-behind Top 10 finish.

Garth Tander and Will Davison led home a Holden trifecta at Bathurst today ahead of the pairing of Jason Richards and Cameron McConville and team-mates Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso.

The V8 Supercar Championship Series will be back in action in two weeks time at the Nikon SuperGP on the Gold Coast.

HI-TEC OILS RACING QUOTEBOARD:

Mark McNally - #16 Hi-Tec Oils Holden Commodore:

“It was a pretty good weekend really, in terms of where we were running before our spin,” said Mark McNally.

“Tony did a great job in the car, he had some really good pace today. We managed to be quite consistent out here. We managed to get ourselves in a good position.

“The team did an unreal job, I’m really happy with them. Oscar did a great job with the strategy to keep us on the lead lap and a great position, which is probably a surprise for a lot of people that we were running as high as fourth.

“It was a little mishap at the end but Tony shouldn’t be down on himself for that one because I think he did a great effort to double stint that last one. He was really doing a huge job.

“We also really struggled with the radio and the communications, which we tried to get on top of, but as soon as the car had any sort of revs all you would get is feedback over the radio. If you were idling you could hear them, if you weren’t you could hear nothing.

“It made it very difficult to run a strategy and to know when to pit and get any feedback on setting the car up with the bars and everything. There was a lot going against us today. I think we did well to work through that and still bring it home in a respectable position.”

Tony Ricciardello - #16 Hi-Tec Oils Holden Commodore:

“One of the HRT cars was getting blocked by someone else, and just slowed down way too much and I was either going to hit the back of them or bail, so I bailed,” said Tony Ricciardello.

“It was unlucky we got bogged and a bit of a disappointment. We had some really good pace throughout the day, it’s just one of those things I guess.

“Our strategy was really good to get on the slicks early when it was wet. We were struggling a little bit early on, but we made a lot of places up. The guys did a fantastic effort, Mark did a fantastic job as well. It was one of those things that just happens around here. We will try again another day.

“The radio situation threw us out quite a bit in the last stint. All that drama caused us to pit on the wrong lap, which caused us to lost 2 or 3 places. We had to try and fight back, we then got caught up in some slower traffic. It’s the way life is I guess.”

RESULTS: Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama
Race 18 in the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series
1. #2 W.Davison/G.Tander 161 laps
2. #8 C.McConville/J.Richards
3. #34 M.Caruso/L.Holdsworth
4. #51 G.Murphy/M.Skaife
5. #888 C.Lowndes/J.Whincup
6. #3 J.Bargwanna/M.Noske
7. #67 P.Morris/T.Slade
8. #7 R.Kelly/T.Kelly
9. #33 D.Besnard/G.Ritter
10. #55 T.D'Alberto/A.Thompson
17. #16 M.McNally/T.Ricciardello

Championship Points After Race 18 of 26
1. Jamie Whincup 2476
2. Will Davison 2383
3. Garth Tander 2038
4. Craig Lowndes 1947
5. Steven Johnson 1656
6. Mark Winterbottom 1574
7. Lee Holdsworth 1568
8. Rick Kelly 1516
9. Russell Ingall 1484
10. James Courtney 1436
32. Mark McNally 339

For further information please contact:
Chris Jordan – BAM Media: +61 412 936 338

The #16 Hi-Tec Oils Holden Commodore with Mark McNally behind the wheel

West Australian Tony Ricciardello behind the wheel at Bathurst