Next V8 Supercars Event
Clipsal 500, Adelaide 70 days, 13 hours, 53 minutes left
Five Star FG Falcon at Jarvis Ford
The all-new FG Falcon has become the first Australian-built car to receive a 5 (five) star rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP). The petrol FG Falcon sedan range was awarded the maximum 5 (five) star safety rating rating with a total score of 34.6 points (out of a possible 37 points), giving it the highest score ever recorded by a locally produced car in Australia by a significant margin. Read more>
|
|
|
|
Marcos grabs sixth in Kentucky |
|
|
|
 15/6/2008
Marcos Ambrose has grabbed his third top 10 finish for the season with an outstanding sixth place finish in the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky today.
Today’s result, which saw Ambrose as the highest-placed Ford, lifts him one spot to 13th in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series driver’s standings, just 54 points outside of the top 10.
Ambrose earned his best starting spot for the season so far by qualifying third in the #59 STP Ford Fusion, running strongly in the top 10 all night at the 1.5-mile speedway.
The Australian driver was quick to give credit and praise to his crew chief Gary Cogswell after the great finish. The result is the ninth race from 16 so far this season where Ambrose has finished in the top 20.
Ambrose started from third position but dropped to fourth on the first lap. Once settled into the race Ambrose jumped back past David Stremme to regain third position on lap 25 and as the first round of green flag pit stops played out, Ambrose led several laps, giving him five bonus points towards his championship standings.
Ambrose continued to run strongly over the course of the 200-lap race and came home with great car speed, a positive sign entering the next series of races.
18-year-old Joey Logano won today’s Meijer 300 in just his third NASCAR Nationwide Series start, becoming the youngest race winner in series history. Scott Wimmer was second and Mike Wallace third.
Next weekend sees Ambrose aim to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California on June 22.
Ambrose will have to qualify on speed in the #21 Little Debbie Ford Fusion for Wood Brothers Racing, as that car lies outside the top 35 in owner’s points and is therefore not guaranteed a starting spot.
Ambrose will pull ‘double duty’ next weekend, continuing his NASCAR Nationwide Series campaign with the Camping World RV Rental 250 at The Milwaukee Mile in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Saturday June 21.
Qualifying for the Cup event will be held on Friday June 20 and if Ambrose qualifies for the race, he will participate in two practice sessions at Infineon Raceway on Saturday, which will mean that Robert Pressley will serve as a back-up driver for Ambrose in practice and qualifying in Milwaukee.
QUOTES – MARCOS AMBROSE
“Gary Cogswell has done a great job for us as a new crew chief,” said Ambrose.
“He got us all back on the same page. We got back to some basics. It’s taken him seven races to get us there, but I feel like we're really starting to turn a corner.
“It was just a solid run. We didn’t panic any where through the race. We didn't panic three, four or five races ago.
We just knew that we had to get back to basics and understand what we had and start working it out.”
Q: WAS IT IMPORTANT HAVING A GOOD RUN GOING INTO NEXT WEEK’S DOUBLE DUTY?
“I guess it justifies a little bit why were going out there. We're going out there to try and stay in the points and see if we can get ourselves back in the top 10, so it helps with that. That was good, so we'll try and do double duty next week and see how it goes.”
Q: DID THE CAR FEEL BETTER THAN IT HAS IN THE PAST? IS IT A HANDLING THING?
“It’s just understanding what these cars need. I haven’t done a very good job of trying to get what I need and Gary has been good enough to listen to what I’m saying and make changes and we’re heading in the right direction.”
Q: YOU RAN IN THE TOP 10 ALL NIGHT.
“Yeah, it’s nice isn’t it? It’s a nice change. I’m pretty pumped with that. There’s a lot of expectation on us this year being the second year. We want to get back to top 10 in points. We just want to run solid top-10s all week, every weekend. That’s the first time we've generally been in the top 10 all day. I'm pretty proud of my guys.”
Q: DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU'VE FOUND YOUR RHYTHM?
“I think we’re starting to understand what these cars need. Our team is working great combined between myself and the 47 team with sharing information and we’re getting on top of it. As a team, we're moving forward.”
RESULTS: Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway
Race 16 in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series
1. #20 Joey Logano 200 laps
2. #29 Scott Wimmer
3. #7 Mike Wallace
4. #88 Brad Keselowski
5. #40 Bryan Clauson
6. #59 Marcos Ambrose
7. #6 David Ragan
8. #1 Mike Bliss
9. #2 Clint Bowyer
10. #11 Jason Keller
RESULTS: Qualifying
1. #20 Joey Logano 30.759
2. #11 Jason Keller 30.883
3. #59 Marcos Ambrose 30.883
4. #64 David Stremme 30.902
5. #27 Brad Coleman 30.950
6. #40 Bryan Clauson 30.963
7. #18 Jeremy Clements 30.963
8. #5 Landon Cassill 30.994
9. #29 Scott Wimmer 31.049
10. #38 Jason Leffler 31.066
2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Standings - After Race 16 of 35
1. Clint Bowyer 2336
2. Brad Keselowski 2166
3. David Reutimann 2161
4. Carl Edwards 2111
5. Kyle Busch 2093
6. David Ragan 2041
7. Mike Bliss 2041
8. Mike Wallace 1944
9. David Stremme 1916
10. Jason Leffler 1834
13. Marcos Ambrose 1780 |
Industry News
|
Toyota first to export 100,000 cars |
19/12/2008
Toyota Australia is set to become the first Australian carmaker to export 100,000 vehicles in a calendar year.
The milestone car is due to be shipped from Melbourne on Christmas Eve, bound for the Middle East.
It will be among more than 2,100 Australian-built Toyota cars leaving Australia that day aboard the Positive Leader. |
|
Read more...
|
|
