NISSAN MOTOR CO LTD November 18, 2014
NISSAN Motor Co., Ltd.
NISSAN Motorsports International Co., Ltd.
V8 Supercars Championship Race Report -
Phillip Island, Victoria (November 15-16, 2014) - Todd Kelly and Michael Caruso have scored their best result since their team transformed into Nissan Motorsport in 2013.
Kelly, who is celebrating his 200th V8 Supercars event start at Phillip Island this weekend, finished 8th and 5th in the two 100km races on Saturday. The 5th place result marks his best result driving a Nissan Altima V8.
Kelly's Nissan teammates also enjoyed strong results. Norton-backed driver Michael Caruso finished 5th and 7th in the two races, while Rick Kelly also claimed a pair of top 10 finishes. On Sunday's Race 35, Caruso led home the Nissan Motorsport charge. He finished in 9th place after qualifying 6th. The result has kept him in 10th place in the championship with one event remaining.
James Moffat's Norton Nissan lacked the pace of his teammates and was also hampered by an incident with Shane van Gisbergen in the first race. He drove well in the second race to finish 11th.
The final event of the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park street circuit in three weeks time.
QUOTES:
Todd Kelly, #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altima
"We made some changes to the car in between Saturday's two races, and it really brought the car to life. The pace was really good, and it really hung onto its tires, but unfortunately at the start of the race on the opening lap I flat spotted my left front tire really badly. It lost me a bit of lap time, but even with the tire like that the race pace was pretty good."
Michael Caruso, #36 Norton Nissan Altima
"The car was good in qualifying so that put us in a good position for the Saturday's races. We didn't have the speed of the guys right at the front, but we seem to be in that next pack. I'm just trying to rack up as many points as I can so I can stay inside the top 10. On Sunday, the car has a lot of speed but I had to fight it at the end with a steering problem. We need to work out what the problem was there before we head to Sydney for what is one of the hardest races of the year."
Rick Kelly, #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altima
"I've been having a little trouble getting the old girl off the line, so our race was hindered in both of Saturday's races with that a little bit. We had a good car in race one, and we decided to try and improve on it for race two, just in learning for the longer race on Sunday, and it really helped. It made a good gain, and we were able to race back. A great day for Nissan Motorsport, four cars in the top-11, it's really satisfying and a good improvement, but like everyone we just want a little more. Just keen to go to the last round and finish the season off on a high to set us up for next year."
James Moffat, #360 Norton Nissan Altima
"For whatever reason, we're just not at speed which all of the other Nissans showed, so we need to go back and have a think about it and see where I'm going wrong. The positive is that we finished all three races and no reliability problems. That's a good sign ahead of the Sydney 500 which is notorious as a car breaker."
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