STRONG SHOWING FOR PATRIZI AT PHILLIP ISLAND
16/09/2008

MICHAEL PATRIZI, driver of the #777 Ausdrill Racing Ford Falcon, has produced his best result yet in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship. It could, however, been far more promising.

After a strong showing in his group in Saturday morning practice, Patrizi found it hard to get to grips with the changing weather conditions (including gale force winds) in qualifying and would start his Ausdrill Ford Falcon 24th in his group heat race.

Unfortunately he got a way badly by stalling on the start line and recovering to finish 23rd after completing the compulsory pit stop for race 1. That allowed Co-Driver Grant Denyer to run his race without a pit stop and he rana strong race, finishing in 14th position and giving the pair a starting position of 24th for the main 500km race on Sunday.

Sunday morning warm-up was certaintly a strong point in Patrizi’s V8 supercar career. Michael finally managed to show his worth by putting all his sector times together and when he finished his stint to hand the car over to Denyer his position was second.

By the end of the session the overall time was good enough for ninth, showing the speed of the car and driver combo when everything is working. This gave an absolute boost coming into the race with Patrizi highly confident of moving forward and indeed the FRSR Ausdrill Falcon did.

After Grant’s stint Patrizi was given the car in 26th place due to Grant being pushed off the circuit. Michael drove a stellar race and with the perfect strategy by his Ausdrill crew and engineer, Patrizi un-lapped himself and was up for a top 10 result clearly running with the pace of the front runners. Unfortunately due to two drive-through penalties for contact and a restart infringement, Patrizi finished the race in 18th position.

Michael Patrizi Comments.

“Wow, that was truly a class act from my Ausdrill crew this weekend. Our result of 18th really doesn’t show what we did do this weekend. The car has been great and I felt I was on top of my game.

“To double stint in my first enduro shows the trust my crew have in me and the fitness level I have been working to. I am really sorry for my guys with the two drive throughs we received. I don’t agree with the second one though again we have to take it on the chin.

“To run with the lead pack for the last 20 laps shows just how far we have come as a team and how I am starting to find my feet in this category it was great to finally get compliments by other teams after the race on my stint in the Ausdrill Falcon.

“Bathurst is going to be the one for Grant and I, I can just feel it. I suppose you just have to keep it on the lead lap and as team we will produce a fantastic result.”