Wakefield Park - Canberra driver Brede on front row

Qualifying / Practice Results - Round One Konica V8 Supercar Series February 24, 2001.

February 24, 2001 - 25 year old NRC Racing V8 Supercar driver, Dale Brede (ACT) has made an impressive V8 Supercar debut by qualifying his VT Commodore on the front row for the first of tomorrow's three season opening Konica Series races at Goulburn's Wakefield Park circuit. (NSW)

Brede's effort was outstanding given that handling problems hampered his efforts to match or beat his blistering pace set during the second practice session, when the Canberra driver was a clear 2/10ths of a second faster than the entire field.

The 25 minute qualifying session was held in hot conditions, with track temperatures reaching 58C. Brede struggled to match his second practice session pace and his problems were compounded with a radio communications failure, leaving him unable to hear his engineer's instructions, or to relay information back to the crew. With two minutes remaining in the session, Brede pulled into pitlane and the team made crucial changes to the car set up and replaced tyres. Brede rejoined the circuit with less than ten seconds remaining before the chequered flag was waved, allowing the NRC Racing driver time for one single hot lap to move up from his lowly 8th spot in the qualifying order.

Brede responded to the immediate challenge, greeting the chequered flag with a front row qualifying result. Brede's fast lap of 1:00.5775s was only 0.18s behind pole setter and former Formula Holden rival from New Zealand, Simon Wills.

According to Dale, "The session started uneventfully, we were as low as 8th and knew that we had to do something to find the pace that we had gained during the second practice session. The team called a late pit stop where we made some set up adjustments and changed tyres, so I had to give it my all to get onto the front row. To make the front row at my debut V8 Supercar race is fantastic and the NRC Racing team has a great deal to be excited about," Dale Brede said.

Team Owner Arthur Abrahams - "I am elated that Dale and NRC Racing have been able to display our capabilities by placing our new car on the front row of the grid for our first V8 Supercar race. While he have done some testing, we could never really know if we were going to be competitive here since the team members are total rookies in this category. I am excited and proud that NRC Racing can mix it with even the best level one supported teams." Wakefield Park V8 Supercar action starts with a 15 minute warm up session at 9:20am, followed by three Konica Series races at 11:30am, 1:50pm and 3:30pm.

<pre> PRACTICE SESSION RESULTS

Practice Session 1 - 9:15am - 29C / Fine

1. Owen Kelly       Holden VS   1:01.0203
2. David Parsons    Holden VT   1:01.3070
3. Simon Wills      Holden VT   1:01.3111
4. Michael Simpson  Ford EL     1:01.4336
5. Dale Brede       Holden VT   1:01.8233
6. Paul Dumbrell    Holden VT   1:01.8243

Practice Session 2 - 11:15am - 33C - Hot.

1. DALE BREDE       1:00.8503 
2. Simon Wills      1:01.0435
3. David Parsons    1:01.0435
4. Michael Simpson  1:01.0541
5. Owen Kelly       1:01.1754
6. Paul Dumbrell    1:01.2180

-PAUL MARINELLI