Hidden Valley: IRWIN Racing weekend summary

MARSHALL SHOWS PROGRESS IN THE TOP-END

IRWIN Racing's Marcus Marshall has enjoyed a solid weekend at the SKYCITY Triple Crown at Hidden Valley (Northern Territory), round #6 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Marshall was 16th in practice before qualifying 23rd.

In the races Marshall was able to set a strong pace to be rewarded with 21st in race #1 and 22nd in race #2; this was despite clutch issues off the start line. The final race netted him 20th despite being spun-off the circuit by Shane Price. Results of races #2 and #3 could differ with a number of inquiries involving other cars that finished ahead of Marshall.

The performance was a marked improvement on the previous round at Sandown where the team had a tough practice, qualifying and opening race.

"It was a good weekend for us as a team far better than Sandown," said Marshall

"A good effort from the team. We ended up pretty much where we deserved to be, a little more luck would have no doubt got us further up the order.

"I know that we can get there. Straight-line speed is still an issue. Our car handles very well and is great under brakes. However, we can't really compete side-by-side on the long straights.

"At the end of the weekend we have a really positive feeling in the IRWIN team. Greg Foletta (Race engineer) and I are getting better at tuning the car and working with the boys to give us something competitive.

"We will get it all together very soon. There's going to be round coming up where we have a strong performance in qualifying and the races. Some people might be surprised when that happens, but not us. We need to be patient and not get frustrated.

"Our car should be good at Queensland Raceway, outright speed is not what it's all about and I'm sure we can be very competitive.

IRWIN Racing Engineer Greg Foletta took a lot of positives from the weekend.

"It has been a much better weekend," said Foletta.

"Practice was great, but we just missed the mark in qualifying. We have improved with our qualifying set-up and feel that we should get into the top-20 from now on. This weekend another tenth of a second would have well and truly got us into that segment.

"The first two races were pretty good considering we had clutch issues off the start-line. Marcus was able to drive back and really race with the opposition. Then in the last race we had some rough and tumble, but still managed our best race result for the weekend.

"We only have a handful of days back in the workshop, so to come away with some momentum from this weekend is really important.

"We are very happy with our base set-up and there's no reason to do anything too dramatic in the preparation for Queensland Raceway."

Round #7 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, the City of Ipswich 400 will be held at Queensland Raceway on 18-20 July.

-credit: bammedia.com.au