Winton: Paul Morris race report

Morris Aims To Improve Car Reliability For Endurance Races

Paul Morris aims to improve the reliability of his Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore for the coming V8 Supercar Championship endurance races in Queensland and at Bathurst after suffering a series of frustrating problems in this weekend's eighth round of the series at Winton in Victoria.

Morris was forced to retire from the first of today's two 32-lap races because of a jammed throttle on his 600-horsepower VX Commodore. He had previously been forced to miss most of yesterday's opening practice session on the 3km circuit when an engine 'rocker' broke on his first lap out of the pits.

The 34-year-old from the Gold Coast was forced to start today's second race from the rear of the grid. He delayed his compulsory pit-stop until lap 12, and steadily improved his position to eventually finish 16th.

Morris, who qualified 26th at Winton, also received a 'drive-through' pit penalty during the first race after making contact with the Super Cheap Auto Ford Falcon of fellow-Queenslander Steve Ellery.

After the round Morris said his team would undertake at least one test day at Queensland Raceway in the lead up to the first endurance race, the V.I.P. Petfoods Queensland 500, on September 15. He will contest the race, and the following Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 endurance event at Bathurst, with Brisbane driver Wayne Wakefield.

Holden Racing Team driver Mark Skaife leads the championship with a tally of 1,775 points after the Winton round. Skaife is 679 points clear of team-mate Jason Bright who won both races at Winton. Morris scored 17 points at Winton, boosting his championship tally to 170.

PAUL MORRIS QUOTES: "We need to address the reliability of the car so we will be doing some testing at Queensland Raceway before the endurance races. Our car speed is good, but some things are going wrong and we've got to fix the situation and turn things around. This weekend was tough, especially after missing the first (practice) session yesterday when the 'rocker' broke. We lost valuable track-time to work on the set-up of the car and it put us behind the eight-ball. The contact with (Steve) Ellery) in the first race was my fault. He got sideways in the couple of corners before we touched so I thought I'd stick my nose in, but unfortunately I punted him. In the second race I stayed out longer than most of the others before making my pit-stop to try and take advantage of the clear track. We had nothing to lose since we were starting from the back, and we ended up gaining about 10 positions. Tyre wear wasn't a problem for us today and the track conditions were good."

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