Konica: Mallala qualifying report

New recruit steals the show

Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series debutant Greg Ritter has stolen the show at the final round of the series at Mallala Motorsport Park in South Australia today, claiming pole in his first V8 Supercar race for the year ahead of championship contenders Luke Youlden and Andrew Jones.

It was the first time in six years that Ritter had competed at the Mallala circuit and the first time since Bathurst last year that Ritter had competed at a V8 Supercar event.

Ritter replaced Brad Tilley in the Speed FX Racing Ford Falcon for the final event of the year in an effort to gain valuable track time for the two V8 Supercar Championship Series endurance events where he will partner Marcos Ambrose in the Stone Brothers Racing Pirtek Falcon.

"This is a great way to get race miles before the first endurance event at Sandown in a few weeks time," Ritter said.

"This is the last round of the series where the eventual Champion will be decided and considering I am not in Championship contention, I'll let those guys sort it out between themselves tomorrow."

Super Cheap Auto Racing's Luke Youlden resurrected the form that has seen him lead the series for the past three rounds by recording the second fastest lap time of the day only .0838 seconds ahead of his closest competitor in Andrew Jones.

"We have made some improvements to the car and hopefully that will keep us in a competitive position going into the three races tomorrow," Youlden said.

"It's the last chance to have a crack at the Championship so it should be pretty interesting racing tomorrow with the title still up for grabs."

Andrew Jones dominated the earlier two practice sessions and looked to retain his dominance of the day in the final qualifying session until mechanical problems left his BOC Falcon stranded on lap 7 causing the session to be red flagged.

The problem was quickly rectified and Jones will be going into the final three races of the year tomorrow still confident of taking the Championship.

"Who knows what could have happened if the car could have kept going in qualifying," Jones said.

"We were aiming to set a lap in the 7's (1.07.000) but unfortunately that wasn't meant to be. The problem with the car has been fixed so hopefully everything will go smoothly and there should be some interesting racing."

Experienced V8 Supercar driver Cameron McLean finished fourth for the day, despite his Howard Racing Falcon slamming into the concrete wall on the straight after turn two in practice one, and Owen Kelly rounded out the top five.

Actron Air/PCR driver Marcus Zukanovic held the fastest lap time in the lower 50 per cent qualifying session and will start the first race from the fourth row.

Castrol Perkins Motorsport's Alex Davison set some impressive lap times in his first ever V8 Supercar event finishing the day in 11th position.

<pre> Qualifying Top Ten 1. #60 Greg Ritter Speed FX Racing 1.08.6251 2. #30 Luke Youlden Super Cheap Auto Racing 1.08.6884 3. #19 Andrew Jones Team BOC 1.08.7089 4. #27 Cameron McLean Howard Racing 1.08.8012 5. #71 Owen Kelly Team Fujitsu 1.08.8176 6. #46 Alan Gurr Holden Young Lions 1.08.8599 7. #28 Matthew White Gulf Western Oil 1.09.0199 8. #65 Marcus Zukanovic Actron Air/PCR 1.09.1097 9. #111 Mark Porter Hydraulink Racing 1.09.1547 10. #81 Jose Fernandez Team Fujitsu 1.09.2268

Practice Two Top Ten 1. #19 Andrew Jones Team BOC 1.09.6441 2. #72 Lee Holdsworth Smiths Trucks 1.09.7148 3. #60 Greg Ritter Speed FX Racing 1.09.8423 4. #111 Mark Porter Hydraulink Racing 1.09.9706 5. #71 Owen Kelly Team Fujitsu 1.10.1400 6. #81 Jose Fernandez Team Fujitsu 1.10.1693 7. #30 Luke Youlden Super Cheap Auto Racing 1.10.2391 8. #27 Cameron McLean Howard Racing 1.10.2408 9. #46 Alan Gurr Holden Young Lions 1.10.2545 10. #28 Matthew White Gulf Western Oil 1.10.5052

Practice One Top Ten 1. #19 Andrew Jones Team BOC 1.09.7885 2. #30 Luke Youlden Super Cheap Auto 1.10.2391 3. #27 Cameron McLean Howard Racing 1.10.2408 4. #60 Greg Ritter Speed FX Racing 1.10.2580 5. #81 Jose Fernandez Team Fujitsu 1.10.2892 6. #111 Mark Porter Hydraulink Racing 1.10.4597 7. #46 Alan Gurr Holden Young Lions 1.10.5195 8. #71 Owen Kelly Team Fujitsu 1.10.5516 9. #28 Matthew White Gulf Western Oil 1.10.5940 10. #72 Lee Holdsworth Smiths Trucks 1.10.5970

-www.v8supercar.com.au