Bathurst 12: Conroy Motorsport event summary

CONROY MOTORSPORT 1 - 2 IN WPS BATHURST 12 HOUR

A ONE-TWO finish at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, is an especially rare and difficult thing to achieve - but that hasn't stopped Conroy Motorsport doing just that in last weekends' WPS Bathurst 12 hour showroom Enduro.

After 12 hours of flat-out racing, the #14 Conroy Motorsport Honda Integra Type S of Peter Conroy, Carl Schembri and Richard Gartner led home the #21 car of Terry Conroy, Leigh Burges and Leanne Tander to sweep the Class F (Production Sports Hatch) results and achieve their aim of toppling the Toyota Celica's in the process.

With a consistent run and negligible problems, car 14 finished the race 12th outright and completed 226 laps. After leading early before minor problems and some bad luck with the safety car struck, the #21 car lost two laps early but rebounded to finish on the same lap as their teammates and just seven seconds behind, completing the emphatic 1-2.

Team owner Terry Conroy hailed the performance as one of a complete team performance.

"I am absolutely thrilled. This is a fantastic result and one that shows the level of preparation, presentation and the performance of our two Honda Integras," He said.

"The race pace was so fast - and we knew it would be coming into it - so we had to build cars that would not only be competitive but also be able to last the distance. As a result we had no major mechanical dramas whilst many of our rivals spent a long time in the pits.

"Of course I would have loved to have seen my car (no. 21) win it, but this was about the team performance. We are a two-car team and acted as such to get the best result for everyone. We would have had to take unnecessary risks that would have placed our 1-2 in jeopardy. Once the last Celica was out of the race our main goal was to make sure we finished and that's what we were able to do."

Conroy said that the mechanical preparation of the cars was clearly the key to the brilliant result.

"It's really hats off to our engineer Steve Kennett and our entire team who put together these cars. We ran then to 8,300rpm all day long. We didn't do a pad change. We didn't change (brake) discs. We did the last six hours on one set of tyres. At the end of the race all we would have needed to do is give them a really good clean and they could have gone another 12 hours without any problems what so ever.

"Our sponsors are thrilled, and so they should be Their support has been fantastic.

"The final piece of the puzzle was that we had six competitive drivers that could do the job and bring the cars home." He said.

The 1-2 result was also notable for delivering Leanne Tander her first Bathurst Podium after several attempts.

"I think before this weekend I had finished one out of about five races at Bathurst, due to varying problems and some bad luck!" Leanne said.

"This weekend was a great result for both the team and I. I'm pleased with how it went and I thought I drove well. It was a tough day for our car but to come back and to finish second in class after being two laps down at one stage was a great result. Congratulations to the team for the result. It was great to work with them."

Conroy Motorsport thanks the support of their 2009 WPS Bathurst 12 hour sponsors: Hankook tyres, Disc Brakes Australia, Speedy Wheels, Bond Rollbars, Penrite Oils, SOS Suspension and Repco Auto Repairs in Penrith.

-credit: cm