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Morris equal 10th in V8 Supercar Championship |
| Release Date: 20/03/2005 |
Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore driver Paul Morris has finished 10th equal in the opening round of the V8 Supercar Championship in Adelaide. Morris scored a total of 108 points in the Clipsal 500, which comprised 250km races yesterday and today.
He finished 14th in yesterday's opening event, earning 57 points, and scored a further 51 points for 16th position in today's second race.
Marcos Ambrose, champion the past two years, emerged overall winner of the round with a maximum 192 points for winning both races in his Pirtek Ford Falcon. Craig Lowndes is second in the series with 183 points in a Betta Electrical Ford Falcon.
Morris struggled with a lack of full engine power throughout today's race on the 3.2km circuit, held in fine conditions. He started 14th on the grid and moved up to eighth by lap eight when he made his compulsory pit-stop for fresh tyres.
The 37-year-old Gold Coast driver resumed racing in 22nd position and improved to seventh by the time he made his second compulsory pit-stop for fuel after 51 laps. He dropped back to 23rd, but then gained seven places before the finish. During the race Morris' car made contact with the WPS Falcon of David Besnard and the Westpoint Falcon of Steve Johnson, but did not suffer serious damage.
The second round of the championship is at the Pukekohe in New Zealand from April 15-17.
PAUL MORRIS QUOTES: "The car had no top-end power today. When I was by myself I could keep the lap times reasonable by braking late, but I couldn't pass anyone. At this stage we don't know what caused it. However, it was something different to yesterday when we lost power with a throttle problem. Considering the car wasn't at its best in both races here I couldn't have expected much more points-wise. We're in the top 10 in the championship and that's something to build on. Our car has a lot more speed than we've shown in the races here, so the potential is there to get much better results. I'm keen to do much better in New Zealand."
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