SP Tools Racing

SBR’s naming right sponsors, SP Tools and IRWIN Industrial Tools have announced they will combine their sponsorship in an attempt to win the elusive Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. The correlation between the tool companies will allow for SBR’s main series drivers, Shane van Gisbergen and Alex Davison to pair up in a dual livery FG Falcon for the 2009 enduro season events. (more…)

It just wasn’t Toll HRT’s day today in Race 2 at Hidden Valley with Garth Tander just missing out on a podium position and finishing fifth. His team-mate Will Davison was on track for a top ten before a late race incident relegated him down the order to 18^th.

Starting from pole position after setting the fastest time in the 20 minute qualifying session earlier today, Tander leapt off the start line. He took control of the race early on before battling with Lowndes for the lead.

Dropping a few spots to cars on soft tyres Tander decided to pit on lap 11 for fuel and fresh tyres. Re-entering the race mid pack he was determined to surpass his performance yesterday and a focused Tander drove a hard fought, consistent race. He pitted again on lap 39 and from there it was a race to the end.

In a nail biting finish Tander was looking promising to finish on the podium before the safety car was called with 10 laps to go. Tander lost position on the restart to Lowndes and then another to Alex Davison who was running soft tyres. He completed the race to finish in fifth.

Tander’s team-mate Will Davison also qualified in the top ten in the second qualifying session and looked set to make it a double podium for the weekend.

Davison’s strategy had him pitting for the first time on lap 8 for fuel and tyres and then on again on lap 34. One of the silent movers and shakers Davison was sixth with just over 10 laps left in the race but after an incident with James Courtney he was left careering across the grass with only laps to go. He managed to salvage 18^th position.

Michael Caruso won the race with Alex Davison crossing the line second. Craig Lowndes was third across the line.

Tander accrued the most points for the weekend and made up considerable ground on the Championship front runners and with 954 points currently sits third. Davison managed to haul enough points to maintain second and with 1128 points only sits 144 points behind Whincup.

With Event 5 now complete the Championship Series moves to Townsville for Event 6 in three weeks time.

The Toll HRT Team will remain in Darwin over the next few days to prepare the cars for the next event.

Garth Tander – #2 Toll Holden Racing Team VE Commodore (Qualifying: 1^st, 1:09.7929; Race 10: 5^th)

“There’s a little bit of ‘ifs’, ‘buts’ and ‘what could have beens’, but considering the tyres we had to play with – all the cars in front had the soft tyres on at some stage during the race and we ran the entire 69 laps on the standard tyre – fifth was probably as close as possible to the best result. We got stuffed up at the restart by Dale Wood and that hurt as Lowndes got past and ended up third. Wood needs to go back to Formula Ford because he’s seriously out of his depth. We’ve been talking for a while about putting the lapped cars to the back for the restarts, and maybe with 10 laps to go we do that so the real cars can go racing again. Overall, if you add up the points we’d be close to winning the round using the old system, so a load of good points this weekend. We’re solidly third in the championship now and, more importantly, we showed that we’ve got a very fast car now.”

Will Davison – #22 Toll Holden Racing Team VE Commodore (Qualifying: 7^th, 1:10.1132; Race 10: 18^th)

“We had 56 laps of great racing; I was having a great race, everything was working smoothly and we weren’t making any mistakes … then the restart!  The soft tyres are ridiculous enough as they are, and to bring out the Safety Car for no reason. I had one spin on a bunch of junk brought onto the track by one of the JD cars, that put me back in the pack and then I was hit from pillar to post. Old Courtney, his reputation speaks for itself, he just fired me off. 56 really good laps and hard work ruined at the end by a disappointing series of incidents.”

Hidden Valley Race 10 Results:

1. Michael Caruso, Garry Rogers Motorsport

2. Alex Davison, Stone Brothers Racing

3. Craig Lowndes, 888 Race Engineering

4. Rick Kelly, Kelly Racing

5. Garth Tander, Toll Holden Racing Team

6. Paul Dumbrell, Team Autobarn

7. Lee Holdsworth, Garry Rogers Motorsport

8. Russell Ingall, Paul Morris Motorsport

9. Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing

10. Jamie Whincup, 888 Race Engineering

18. Will Davison, Toll Holden Racing Team

Hidden Valley Qualifying 2 Results:

1. Garth Tander, Toll Holden Racing Team; 1:09.7929

2. Craig Lowndes, 888 Race Engineering; 1:09.9048

3. Mark Winterbottom, Ford Performance Racing; 1:09.9654

4. Todd Kelly, Kelly Racing; 1:10.0482

5. Lee Holdsworth, Garry Rogers Motorsport; 1:10.1000

6. Michael Caruso, Garry Rogers Motorsport; 1:10.1132

7. Will Davison, Toll Holden Racing Team; 1:10.1132

8. James Courtney, Dick Johnson Racing; 1:10.1368

9. Rick Kelly, Kelly Racing; 1:10.1558

10. Alex Davison, Stone Brothers Racing; 1:10.1975

Championship Points Table (after Event 5):

1. Jamie Whincup, 888 Race Engineering, 1272 points

2. Will Davison, Toll Holden Racing Team, 1128 points

3. Garth Tander, Toll Holden Racing Team, 954 points

4. Craig Lowndes, 888 Race Engineering, 906 points

5. Lee Holdsworth, Garry Rogers Motorsport, 897 points

6. Steven Johnson, Dick Johnson Racing, 873points

7. Rick Kelly, Kelly Racing, 807 points

8. Mark Winterbottom, Ford Performance Racing, 765 points

9. Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing, 729 points

10. Russell Ingall, Paul Morris Motorsport, 728 points

SBR’s strong track record at the Hidden Valley circuit was alive again today when both SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen and IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison finished in the top ten for Practice.

The Darwin heat proved to be no issue for New Zealand born van Gisbergen as he remained at the top of the times, when with less than two minutes to go Will Davison set the fastest lap of the day pushing Shane back to second.

Alex Davison struggled for balance in his IRWIN Ford but recovered well when the team changed to a better set of tyres. Finishing the session 10th overall was a rewarding result after having problems with grip and understeer earlier in the day.
Shane van Gisbergen – Driver, SP Tools Racing Car #9

“We struggled for balance for a while there, the first half of practice was a long fifty minutes. We made quite a few changes during the break and as soon as we moved to better tyres it was bang and we were up there.

“It’s great to be here, in the top three. After we set our quickset time we still had some really strong laps that followed which proved we have things right with the car. It’s always good for the team to have both drivers up there, Alex finishing in the ten is a great result for SBR.”

TODAY’S RESULTS
POS CAR # DRIVER TEAM TIME
1 22 Will Davison Holden Racing Team 1:09.7269
2 9 Shane van Gisbergen SP Tools Racing 1:09.8329
3 888 Craig Lowndes Team Vodafone 1:09.8864
4 1 Jamie Whincup Team Vodafone 1:09.8899
5 15 Rick Kelly Jack Daniel’s Racing 1:09.8953
6 5 Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing 1:09.9851
7 6 Steven Richards Ford Performance Racing 1:09.9887
8 7 Todd Kelly Jack Daniel’s Racing 1:10.0733
9 34 Michael Caruso Garry Rogers Motorsport 1:10.1419
10 4 Alex Davison IRWIN Racing 1:10.2270

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It was another missed opportunity today for SBR when a problem during a scheduled pit stop cost van Gisbergen time dropping him from a competitive top ten position to one lap down. After this morning’s 20 minute qualifying session the SP Tools Racing Falcon and IRWIN Racing Falcon lined up on the grid in 11th and 19th respectively. Unhappy with their starting positions SBR’s drivers, van Gisbergen and Davison had some work to do, and with half the field still having their soft tyres on reserve it looked to be a long hard race ahead.

At the green light all 30 cars got off the line and made it cleanly through the tight hairpin without incident. The first of the pit stops took place on Lap 1 before the SP Tools Falcon entered Pit Lane on Lap 4 for a new set of rear tyres and fuel. Van Gisbergen re-entered and spent the next few laps dicing with Lowndes before settling into a race rhythm.

IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison was to stay out for much longer before his first stop as part of the team’s strategy. Davison remained the highest placed driver on hard tyres before pitting on Lap 36 for rear tyres and fuel.

The race continued without incident when on Lap 53 van Gisbergen was called in to pit again after Murphy spun at the hairpin. The team were hoping for a Safety Car but that was not to be as Murphy eventually rejoined the race without assistance.

Car #9 came in for another top up of fuel and four tyres but when the engine stalled on exit the SP Tools Falcon remained stationary as Shane battled to restart the car. The SBR crew looked on powerless to help as the 30 second struggle cost him dearly, dropping him from 10th to a lap down.

Just seven laps later the IRWIN FG Falcon was in for fuel and four new tyres, the following lap would throw the field wide open when Courtney crashed and failed trying to limp his wrecked car back to Pit Lane.
The beginning of a Safety Car streak began on Lap 60, this was to be the first Yellow of three over 15 minutes.  One lap after the restart the Safety Car was again deployed to retrieve Jason Richards’s car stranded at the hairpin.

After the 2nd restart the field had reshuffled into race position with Davison sitting in 9th. With 7 laps to go Fiore was buried at the hairpin forcing the Safety Car to re-enter the track for the third time.
Davison struggled with rear grip for the remaining laps unable to hold onto position and keep out those behind him on soft tyres. At the end of 84 laps Alex had dropped back three positions to finish in 12th, van Gisbergen crossing the line 20th.

Paul Forgie – Car #9 Engineer

“It was a potential top 5 result today lost. It’s cost us two Championship positions which is frustrating when we had a car worthy of a solid result.

“Shane did a great job in the middle stint and the boys did a good job of the pit stops.
“We are getting closer and closer to a podium it just hasn’t fallen into place for us yet.  All the ingredients are there ………….we’re looking to Darwin now.”

Race 2 – Falken Tasmainia Challenge

V8 Supercars are fun no questions asked but racing just wouldn’t be the same without beautiful women…

We take great pleasure and pride in introducing you to the SP Tools Racing Grid Girls.

From Left to Right:

Jenny Kellett, Elise Griffiths, Jess Plush,  Kristen McKenzie.

Thankyou – Sensational Job.

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TOUGH DAY FOR SBR ON THE STREETS OF ADELAIDE
22/03/2009

It was a frustrating day for the SBR team, after finishing with strong positional gains on track in yesterday’s race, the SP Tools Racing #9 car started 12th and the IRWIN Racing #4 car lined up 26th, due to the new qualifying start rule introduced by V8 Supercars for this years championship series.

In front of a huge crowd, in excess of 270,000 over the four day race weekend, the SBR Ford FG Falcons battled it out for valuable championship points in tough conditions. A slow start from van Gisbergen in Race 2 lost him a few positions in the first lap putting him back into 15th before an early safety car period interrupted the race to remove Jack Perkin’s car after an incident at turn 8.

In the following laps Shane managed to fight his way through to be inside the top ten with lap times matching the speed of the leading drivers. Encouragement from his engineer, Paul Forgie, helped to keep Shane alert and focused for the chase into his second stint.

Paul Forgie – Race Engineer Car #9 (In Car Radio – Lap 30)
“Good work, get back into your rhythm and make every corner count.”
After two more restarts Shane communicated to the SBR crew complications with the throttle reporting it was sticking.

Shane van Gisbergen – Driver SP Tools Racing Car #9
“The race was okay today, I stuffed up the start and let a few guys through but we went on a bit of a charge, the car was awesome and the guys did a great job preparing it. We were on the case and passed a lot of cars and at the end of our first stint we were looking good. We managed to keep the pace then later in the second stint the butterfly had bent so it was carrying throttle into the corners so I couldn’t pull it up and it wouldn’t turn, I had to clutch it every corner which cost us a lot of time.”

IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison experienced another drama filled day in the #4 FG Falcon struggling with the car as well as a foot injury sustained during Saturday’s race. On lap 44 after a perfect pit-stop Alex clipped the tyre wall at turn one causing the centre of his front left tyre to shred forcing him to return to the pits the following lap.

Once Alex returned to the track he managed to post his fastest time of 1:23.7722 on lap 55. The IRWIN Racing car went a lap down after the race leader, Jamie Whincup, passed the #4 car on the main straight. In the later stages of the race Alex reported he was struggling with severe foot pain and the overall handling of the car. The race telemetry alerted the team to an engine problem with SBR’s engineers diagnosing there was an issue with the alternator. As Alex lost track position throughout the following laps it was decided to bring the car into the pits for the remainder of the race before re-entering to complete the last lap for championship points.

Alex Davison – Driver IRWIN Racing Car #4
“I made a mistake and clipped the tire bundle at turn one, I was behind another car and sort of blinded a bit by it and clipped it and cut the tire and we had to come in a change it. Then not long after the alternator had a problem and the battery started going flat so we had to stop, we charged it up enough at the end so I could do the last lap.

“My foot is not so good at the moment, apart from that I feel brand new, there wasn’t an issue at all as far as comfort levels go. I felt more acclimatised today; my cool suit worked the whole race so there were no dramas fitness wise.”

Davison’s debut for SBR wasn’t what the team or Alex himself had hoped for.

David Stuart – Team Manager
“These cars are unique compared to anything else anybodies ever driven, anybody that comes into the category from open wheelers to Porches will have a small period of adjustment. Alex has the determination and the ability and he will be harder on himself than we could ever be, he’s determined to make it work here at SBR. I was with his brother Will in his first race in ’06 here at Clipsal and he had the same sort of results but look at him today he’s standing on the podium so I believe Alex has every bit the potential that Will has as long as he doesn’t beat himself up too much we can enjoy celebrating a podium with him in a few more years.”

A tough race weekend for the team ended with SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen finishing equal 6th on 168 points while IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison finished equal 17th with 90 points overall.
Ross Stone – Team Principal

“It was a tough race and a tough place today. To have two 250km races to start off the season is always hard but I think we can take some positives out of it being that we have really good car speed and great chemistry within the team. We will move forward from here.”

The SBR crew will stay in Adelaide to work on the #4 and #9 cars on Monday in the lead up to the ‘Non-Championship’ Race 2.

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Round 6, SKYCITY Triple Crown, Hidden Valley, Darwin, NT

Stone Brothers Racing drivers have made a gutsy comeback in the third and final race at round six of the V8 Supercar Championship Series in Darwin this afternoon after taking a battering in race two this morning.

SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen recovered to take ninth for the round, closely followed in the points by team-mate JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney in tenth.

Courtney produced a brilliant drive in race three to take seventh position after starting from a lowly 24th on the grid.

Race two was forgettable for Courtney, the JELD-WEN Motorsport driver looked certain to hold on to eighth position until he lost the rear end of his SBR Falcon and slid into the tyre wall at turn eight two laps from the chequered flag. Courtney was able to finish the race, but dropped to 24th position.

Courtney was in need of a clever strategy in race three and he got one, the JELD-WEN Motorsport driver holding off on his compulsory pit stop until lap 25, providing him with a clear track to pump out consistently fast lap times and make ground on the rival pack.

The JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon rejoined the 42-lap race in tenth position, Courtney passing team-mate Shane van Gisbergen the following lap to claim ninth.

Following the safety car period on lap 30, Courtney made a move on Jamie Whincup for eighth and picked up one more positio n when Craig Lowndes retired from the race on the final lap suffering an engine problem.

Like his team-mate, SP Tools Racing’s van Gisbergen was also showing good form in race two until he made contact with Will Davison at the hairpin, turning the number 18 Falcon around. The resulting drive-through penalty saw the SP Tools Racing driver drop from eighth position down to 23rd.

In the closing laps of the race, van Gisbergen was able to push on and pick up seven positions to finish in 16th place.

Race three produced a hectic start and van Gisbergen slid to 20th place on the opening lap but he quickly put his head down to regain three positions before his compulsory pit stop on lap eight.

Van Gisbergen pushed hard following his stop, a swag of passing moves earning him ninth place by lap 26. The young Kiwi relinquished only one position to team-mate Courtney, dropping to tenth before crossing the line in ninth position as he benefited from Lowndes? ?? retirement.

Both Courtney and van Gisbergen retain their positions in the V8 Supercar Championship standings, seventh and eleventh respectively. Stone Brothers Racing remains in fourth position in the teams championship.

Stone Brothers Racing will next race at their ‘home’ event in two weeks time when round seven of the V8 Supercar Championship Series returns to Queensland Raceway, 18-20 July 2008.

James Courtney, #4, JELD-WEN Motorsport
“It was good to finish the weekend on a positive note with a really solid race.

“The JELD-WEN Falcon was quite a handful at the start of the second race today but we ran around and worked our way into the race and got inside the top ten.

“With two laps to go I lost the rear at turn eight and there was no getting it back.

“In the last race the JELD-WEN Falcon was fantastic, easily the best it’s been all weekend. It was great to find that cha nge that made the difference and have some success with it.

“We were down on power in the last race with an engine problem from lap eight onwards so to have the pace that we did despite that shows that we really got on top of the car at the end.

“We have some good knowledge now of the tyre after the third race as well and we will have some good direction at Queensland Raceway.”

Shane van Gisbergen, #9, SP Tools Racing
“It was a weekend full of ups and downs but in every race we had very good pace and we were able to pass a lot of cars.

“The handling and balance of the SP Tools Racing Falcon was good this weekend and the brakes were really strong when following other cars, they didn’t fade.

“The incident with Will (Davison) today was one of those things in racing; he moved over and I wasn’t far enough up. I went and apologised to him after the race as it affected both our races.

“We will have a new car at Q ueensland Raceway, James’ car from Clipsal, so we will be focusing on that in the next week and we hope that we can improve even further.”

Meeting Points
1. Steven Richards 284 pts
2. Mark Winterbottom 278 pts
3. Garth Tander 272 pts
4. Jamie Whincup 214 pts
5. Russell Ingall 212 pts
6. Will Davison 186 pts
7. Rick Kelly 180 pts
8. Craig Lowndes 154 pts
9. Shane Van Gisbergen 140 pts
10. James Courtney 138 pts

V8 Supercar Championship Points
1. Mark Winterbottom 1402 pts
2. Garth Tander 1344 pts
3. Jamie Whincup 1276 pts
4. Rick Kelly 1208 pts
5. Steven Richards 1123 pts
6. Craig Lowndes 1051 pts
7. James Courtney 949 pts
8. Will Davison 938 pts
9. Lee Holdsworth 876 pts
10. Todd Kelly 834 pts
11. Shane Van Gisbergen 832 pts

V8 Supercar Team Championship Points
1. Ford Performance Racing 2525 pts
2. Team Vodafone 2327 pts
3. Toll Holden Racing Team 2088 pts
4. Stone Brothers Racing 1781 pts
5. HSV Dealer Team 1774 pts

Race 3
1. Steven Richards
2. Mark Winterbottom
3. Garth Tander
4. Russell Ingall
5. Will Davison
6. Rick Kelly
7. James Courtney
8. Jamie Whincup
9. Shane Van Gisbergen
10. Greg Murphy

Race 2
1. Garth Tander
2. Steven Richards
3. Mark Winterbottom
4. Craig Lowndes
5. Jamie Whincup
6. Russell Ingall
7. Jason Richards
8. Mark Skaife
9. Rick Kelly
10. Will Davison
16. Shane Van Gisbergen
24. James Courtney

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Round 6, SKYCITY Triple Crown, Hidden Valley, Darwin, NT

Stone Brothers Racing drivers were on the move in race one at the SKYCITY Triple Crown this afternoon, with JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney rounding out the top ten and SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen finishing in 12th.

Van Gisbergen made an exceptional recovery from a disappointing qualifying session where under-steer and a failed shift cut made hard work for the 19-year-old, placing him in 22nd position on the grid.

The SP Tools Racing driver had a steady start, picking up three positions in the opening laps. A lightening quick stop by the SBR pit crew on lap seven gave van Gisbergen the advantage he needed to make his way to 13th.

Van Gisbergen hustled Mark Skaife for a number of laps before the HRT driver slid off the track with a flat tyre leaving the way clear for the SP Tools Racing Falcon to cross the line in 12th place.

Shane van Gisbergen, #9, SP Tools Racing
“We had a good start to the race today but I got pushed out at the first corner so we lost what we had gained.

“The SP Tools Falcon was really good and we made up places early.

“Once I got behind Skaife I didn’t have enough to pass. This track is not great for passing but we tried our hardest and made up some spots so it was good. Ten places from 22nd is pretty satisfying.

“We found the tyres went away quickly after the pit stop. It seems to be a characteristic of these new tyres and everyone will be experiencing the same thing. We will learn from that and be ready for it tomorrow.”

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A larger-than-life James Courtney and Shane van Gisbergen will set off in the early hours of Saturday morning on the 4,500km trip across the Nullabor for round four of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Barbagallo in Perth, Western Australia.

The four-metre high images of Courtney and van Gisbergen hold pride-of-place on the side of the new-look Stone Brothers Racing race transport er along with the JELD-WEN Motorsport and SP Tools Racing Falcons thanks to Roland DG, 3M and Queensland TAFE students.

SBR’s B-double has just undergone what could well be Australasia’s, and possibly the world’s, largest vehicle wrap.

Wrapping the MAN prime mover and the A and B trailers was no small task, with over 20 specialists required to get the job done in just four days.

Roland DG, who provide state-of-the-art digital graphic printers for all of SBR’s sign writing needs, produced 450 square metres of printed vinyl to cover the entire truck. The massive task took three machines 55 hours to prepare, print and laminate the material.

3M also came to the party with the latest digital graphic film, 3M Controltac Plus IJ180Cv2-10 and Scotchcal High Gloss Overlaminate 8518, to ensure a high gloss, wet paint look.

The SBR race transporter was transformed inside the Brisbane Truck Centre where masses of scaffolding, metres of extensio n leads and numerous flood lights, ladders, trestles and heat guns were employed to allow a team of 15, including seven sign writing apprentices from the Southbank Institute of Technology, to work on the 26-metre long truck and trailer at the same time.

Critical to the success of the project was Steve Lambourne and the crew from Clegg Media. Steve’s company specializes in vehicle wrapping, with the team at Clegg Media wrapping over 100 trucks last year.

The result of this enormous project is an amazing continuous mural showcasing SBR’s V8 Supercar Championship BF Ford Falcons, its two drivers and its corporate partners.

Business Manager of 3M Australia Gino Farina explains why his company became involved in the project.

“When the opportunity arose to work with SBR and Roland DG and align our activities with a project that was of benefit to all parties, including the community through the involvement of the TAFE students, we jumped at it.”

Roland DG Sales and Marketing Manager John Wall was just as enthusiastic.

“We have been working closely with SBR for three years and we are always on the lookout to showcase the quality and versatility of our product to the greater market. What better way is there to do that than on a four-metre high, 26-metre long moving billboard!”

Team Principal Ross Stone is thrilled with the outcome.

“We now have a race transporter that presents SBR and our corporate partners in a striking and professional manner.

“The truck wrap was a big undertaking for everyone, from the boys in the workshop who prepared the trailers right through to the team that worked on the wrap at the Brisbane Truck Centre.

“It is a fantastic achievement by all and a great credit to 3M, Roland DG and SBR.”

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