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V8: Kelly rues late Safety Car
Jack Daniel’s Racing’s Rick Kelly was left ruing a controversial Safety Car period which cost the team its first ever podium at Hidden Valley last weekend.
Kelly ran in second place for much of the 200km feature race until the weekend’ only Safety Car was deployed in the closing stages to retrieve the stricken car of Tim Slade who was suffering with overheating problems. Slade however was eventually able to make his way back to the pits, causing competitors to question the need to bring out the SC.
On the restart Kelly lost places Alex Davison and Craig Lowndes, finishing the race down in fourth.
“It certainly is disappointing,” said 2006 V8 champion Kelly. “I think as a team we put the race together to finish in second place there, but we were a little bit robbed that we didn’t to be honest.
“The Safety Car, in a lot of people's mind, was probably questionable and it took a second place off of us at the end of the day, which was extremely disappointing.
“Lowndesy then ran me into the grass after the restart, which was a bit of fun, and we finished fourth.
“So that's a fantastic result for the team but it's also the most frustrating result of the year because second was well and truly in our sights.”
Race stewards will investigate why the Safety Car was called out, amid allegations that Slade’s team ‘caused’ the Safety Car to allow teammate Russell Ingall to capitalise.
On the soft tyre, Ingall was able to climb through the bunched-up field after the restart to finish in eighth.
However Supercheap Auto Racing Team Owner, Paul Morris, has denied Slade was ordered to stop and pledged his full co-operation with the investigation.
“I have been informed by the IPO that two teams have complained and that the IPO will investigate,” he said.
“I’m more than happy to help out with the investigation because there was nothing in it.
“The only thing that Sladey was told was not to pull on to the grass because a couple of years ago there were a couple of fires under the car.”
Watch all the action from the V8 Supercar races from Hidden Valley Raceway on Motors TV (Sky Channel 413, Virgin Media 545) on Sunday 28 June at 5pm (BST).
Andy Wilkinson
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