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Fujitsu: David Russell Sydeny summary

DAVID RUSSELL ENDS 2010 SEASON IN FUJITSU SERIES TOP FIVE December 5, 2010 - After qualifying third at the final Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series round of 2010, hopes were high for Team Jayco Falcon V8 Supercar driver David Russell to mount a challenge ...

DAVID RUSSELL ENDS 2010 SEASON IN FUJITSU SERIES TOP FIVE

December 5, 2010 - After qualifying third at the final Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series round of 2010, hopes were high for Team Jayco Falcon V8 Supercar driver David Russell to mount a challenge for the 2010 title at Sydney Olympic Park this weekend.

Unfortunately the talented racing driver's championship aspirations vanished by the time he had reached the first corner of Saturday's race at Homebush. A slipping clutch at the start saw Russell get off to a slow start from third on the grid. After having to take evasive action to avoid a collision with Nick Percat's Commodore, a first corner melee saw Russell's Team Jayco Falcon get impacted from behind, causing substantial rear guard and tyre damage. This saw the Ford racer back into the pits for emergency repairs on the second lap. He rejoined the race in 23rd and last position and managed to secure 51 points by finishing 18th despite his clutch issues worsening throughout the 17 lap sprint race.

The Team Jayco crew worked through the night to repair and replace his bent differential to ensure Russell had a strong car for Sunday's race. After a sensational start Russell powered from 18th on the grid to 10th by the completion of the first lap. An early Safety Car period due to an accident saw the race re-start on lap 4 and Russell had made up another position to 9th at the first corner, beggining a long and close battle with former main V8 Supercar series racer David Besnard.

A second Safety Car period took place due to Daniel Jileson coming to grief with a tyre barrier on lap 9 of 17, the re-start seeing Russell overtake another former main series driver Paul Morris at the first turn. This combined with competitor incidents saw him into the top 6 and once again in close pursuit of Besnard and Tim Blanchard. A rear brake lock up late in the race saw Russell impact the rear of Blanchard's Falcon, for which he was penalised after the race with 26 seconds added to his race time. Russell finished the race in 5th place on the track, having made up 13 places on the tight Homebush street circuit, but the addition of the penalty dropped him to 12th in the final results. This had a major impact on his championship points haul for the round, which was just 120 points, placing him 5th in the series for 2010.

"This final round certainly did not go to plan with accidents and incidents, but you have to take the good with the bad and our team has a lot to be proud of this season. We were the only team to out-qualify and beat Championship winner Steve Owen and our wins and podiums saw is in the title hunt consistently throughout the season," David Russell said.

"I'd like to congratulate Steve Owen on his championship victory. I must also thank the hard working crew at Team Jayco / Matthew White Motorsport for their efforts this year and all of our sponsors for their support," he added.

David Russell is currently working on his racing plans for 2011, the ultimate goal being to join a main series V8 Supercar team either in a full time or in a test and endurance race driver role.

-source: marinellipr

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