MICHAEL CARUSO CLAIMS HIS THIRD TOP-15 SEASON FINISH IN QUEENSLAND

Garry Rogers Motorsport rookie Michael Caruso has surpassed expectation after scoring his third top-15 finish of his maiden V8 Supercar Championship season while competing at round seven in Queensland last weekend (July 18-20).

A solid competitor throughout the three-day race meeting, 25-year-old Caruso built on his bank of consistent results after never finishing outside the top 16 in all three races, giving him enough accumulated points to finish 15th overall and be the leading rookie home.

“I’m very pleased to finish in the top 15 again at a track where it’s renowned for good horsepower, which is exciting in a way because if we can finish like this now then when I get the new Walkinshaw Performance engine for my car we’re sure to be even stronger,” said Caruso.

“Being consistent has been really important and we had three clean races and brought the car home relatively straight which is always good when the next race is only two weeks away at Winton.”

Qualifying 22nd in the #34 Valvoline Cummins Commodore, Caruso believes the team is starting to understand how the new Dunlop control tyre works in only its second meeting in use. While decent race pace helped him in the opening two races where he finished 15th and 16th respectively, Caruso carried his strong form through for his second consecutive top-15 finish and third for 2008 despite a race-three pitstop delay.

“In the first race we had a good pitstop and moved forward a few spots, but it was pretty much my own race from then on. In the last race we had an excellent first lap and went from 18th to 12th but then had dramas in the pits where one of the wheels wouldn’t come off. But it was a good effort by the team to recover and help get us back to 16th in that race,” said Caruso.

“The good thing is we’re starting to get a handle on the different compound tyre which is very important going into Winton which is our home track. We’ve learnt something everyday and we’ve still got more to go but in saying that we’re heading in the right direction.

“I’m starting to learn how each in particular driver is on the track and how hard you can race against them. I’ve really been focussing on the consistency since Hamilton in New Zealand, to stay clean and bring the car home straight. If I can keep away from any first lap incidents and get some good finishes then it helps to try and move us up in the championship.”

Caruso is currently 21st in the Championship and leads the rookie driver stakes with 668 points. He will next compete at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria for round eight of the V8 Supercar Championship Series on August 1-3, 2008.