IRWIN Racing’s Lee Holdsworth has finished today’s 45 lap race at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit in a very respectable ninth place.
Starting from 12th, Holdsworth took a gamble on lap five when the first safety car of the race came out by deciding to stay out, this elevated him to second on the road.
There was always a question mark over whether a car could get through to the end only pitting once. The answer was yes, but the IRWIN Tools driver had to conserve fuel and look after his tyres.
Had he pitted on lap five he would have had to queue behind his team mate which would have seen him circulating outside of the top 20 making it difficult to salvage a good result.
The result sees Holdsworth drop to sixth in the championship, but the top 10 is so tight that he is a mere 45 points adrift of fourth place.
The V8 Supercars series has a small break before heading to Darwin in mid-June.
What IRWIN Racing’s Lee Holdsworth had to say:
“I think that was a great strategy by Brad (Wischusen) and the rest of the boys, I think they chose the right one, but in doing that we had to save a massive amount of fuel, more than most guys, and also we'd done another five laps on our tyres than anyone else. At the end I was really struggling. It's always a bit frustrating when you are racing, watching your mirrors, I’d rather be passing blokes up ahead. The championship is so tight, Giz (Shane van Gisbergen) and Craig (Lowndes) passed me in that race and they jumped me in the championship. I’m just trucking along getting some solid points here and there, I’ve only been out of the top 10 twice this year, which is not a bad run. I’m still wanting to get on that podium though. We just have to get everything right and just at the moment the car is just a little bit off for me, but I’m sure we'll have the IRWIN Racing Ford up there in Darwin.”
What IRWIN Racing’s engineer Brad Wischusen had to say:
“It was a gamble not pitting when the safety car came out, but we were 14th at the time and we decided to take a gamble. Lee did really well to look after his tyres and save enough fuel to ensure he’d get through to the end. There were a few safety cars as well which helped our cause. Had we not stayed out it would have been tough to get into the top 10, the points table is so tight that a low result could loose you several spots, ninth kept us well in touch with the championship leaders.”
2012 V8 Supercars Championship after 11 of 29 races
1. Will Davison 1216 points
2. Jamie Whincup 1206
3. Mark Winterbottom 1187
4. Craig Lowndes 977
5. Shane van Gisbergen 953
6. Lee Holdsworth 932
7. Tim Slade 879
8. Garth Tander 816
9. Fabian Coulthard 766
10. Rick Kelly 673
V8 Supercars: Phillip Island Race 11 Results
1. #6 Will Davison 45 Laps
2. #888 Craig Lowndes
3. #8 Jason Bright
4. #9 Shane van Gisbergen
5. #1 Jamie Whincup
6. #5 Mark Winterbottom
7. #19 Jonathan Webb
8. #55 David Reynolds
9. #4 Lee Holdsworth
10. #2 Garth Tander
V8 Supercars: Phillip Island 300 Race 11 Qualifying Results
1. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:32.3167
2. #55 David Reynolds 1:32.5063
3. #6 Will Davison 1:32.5272
4. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:32.7070
5. #8 Jason Bright 1:32.7126
6. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:32.7320
7. #91 Michael Patrizi 1:32.8478
8. #9 Shane van Gisbergen 1:32.9068
9. #14 Fabian Coulthard 1:32.9781
10. #19 Jonathan Webb 1:32.9811
12. #4 Lee Holdsworth 1:33.0496
V8 Supercars: Phillip Island 300 Practice 5 Results
1. #47 Tim Slade 1:32.2866
2. #7 Todd Kelly 1:32.3172
3. #9 Shane van Gisbergen 1:32.8273
4. #4 Lee Holdsworth 1:32.8526
5. #6 Will Davison 1:32.9882
6. #91 Rick Kelly 1:32.1477
7. #34 Michael Caruso 1:32.1804
8. #22 James Courtney 1:32.2933
9. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:32.3325
10. #8 Jason Bright 1:32.1730
