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[V8SC] Lee Holdsworth column
by Lee Holdsworth
Hamilton 400
I have to admit, in the lead up to Hamilton, I was feeling pretty confident about having another solid weekend. Street circuits really suit our (Garry Rogers Motorsport) cars so I knew it was a chance to bank a bag of points and that's exactly what I managed to do!
As you probably know, the V8 Supercar board decided to change the qualifying system for the Hamilton round and beyond. This meant that qualifying for Saturday's race would remain the same but there would be the inclusion of a qualifying session for Sunday's race also.
I was really happy to qualify sixth for race 1, because it set me up for a good result. I managed to make a quick getaway off the line, moving to fifth before the first corner. My car was doing everything right, so I was able to take advantage of a mistake made by Garth Tander, moving me up to fourth. The GRM boys made easy work of the pit stop where I gained another position.
Towards the closing stages of the race I had used up the best of my tyres and there was nothing I could do except hope the two drivers in front would make a mistake. I finished the race in third position behind (Jamie) Whincup and (Mark) Winterbottom, and got to taste the champagne once again on the podium. Although the champagne actually tastes horrible, I have a feeling that I could definitely get used to it!
For race 2, again I qualified sixth, despite the unpredictable nature of the session. For the race, we experimented with different tyre pressures which unfortunately didn't work in our favour. These small changes changed the behaviour of the car quite a bit, and in truth it was a bit of a handful. In the first ten laps I had a difficult time trying to stick with the leading pack and was under huge pressure from some drivers behind me with quicker cars. Fortunately I was able to maintain position until the rear tires reached optimum temperature. I was then able to start making inroads on the leading pack.
Before the pit stop I fought my way through to fourth. I didn't gain any time on the leading cars while in the pits and came back out in the same position. From there, I hassled Steven Johnson through to the end trying to force him into a mistake. We had identical pace and I couldn't get close enough to make a pass before the chequered flag. On the last lap I flashed my lights at my team hanging over pit wall, who were all pretty excited about being now only one position away from leading the V8 Supercar Championship.
Sitting in third position in the championship after the Clipsal 500, I thought things couldn't get much better. But to come home from New Zealand second in the championship and the leading Holden driver is just fantastic!
Lee
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