Bathurst 12: Conroy Motorsport qualifying report

CONROY HONDA ON BATHURST CLASS POLE THANKS TO LEANNE TANDER FLYER

CONROY MOTORSPORT has taken a stunning class pole position the WPS Bathurst 12 hour today at Mount Panorama.

In a tight tussle between the team's #21 Honda Integra Type S and the Osborne Motorsport Celica driven by Australian Rally Champ Neal Bates, Leanne Tander took the Class F pole position by just over seven-tenths of a second to set in place an epic battle between the pair in tomorrow's race.

The second Conroy Motorsport Honda also ran strongly and is proving to be a consistent package, qualified fourth in their class and 38th outright. Tander banked a stunning 2m43.8957 lap late in the session to jump the Celica and take a stunning class pole, the first for Conroy Motorsport at the 12 hour. The car will start tomorrow's race from 35th position outright from a 48 car field.

"To be honest, when i first saw the time I was a little bit disappointed," Leanne said.

"I thought that car had a (2m) 41 in it, and after doing a 2m42 second lap in practice I thought we could do it again - but the track must have gone off and it turned out that the time we did was enough!

"It's great to be on pole position. I think we have a car that can last the distance and stick to the pace that we have set ourselves. I'm pretty confident that we will be racing for a class win and possibly a top fifteen overall." She said.

"The cars are both excellent and I'm very pleased to be on pole in our class," Team Owner Terry Conroy said.

"Leanne did an excellent job. The lap she did was sensational. The cars are working very well and car no. 21 has really been tailored to suit her - but having said that Leigh (Burges) is doing an excellent job and he says the car suits him well. They are the pace and I'm the consistency so all up we should have a great race package."

Though pleased with the performance Conroy said that the biggest deal of all was lasting 12 hours tomorrow.

"It's great to beat the Corollas - they aren't used to being knocked off - but tomorrow will be a big challenge and a great race with them," he warned. "So far the brake wear is excellent. The tyre wear is excellent. The car has no leaks, has had nothing fall off and hasn't exploded - but the key will be making sure none of that happens tomorrow!

"We have a race pace we are going to work on, and work around the potentially variable weather and see how we end up after 12 hours."

Earlier in the weekend the team focussed on race setup and making the drivers comfortable in the car, rather than outright pace.

Both Conroy Motorsport cars ran faultlessly though each of the three, 50-minute practice sessions with Tander quickest in P3 on Saturday morning.

The team anticipates nearly two-hour stints from their Honda Integra Type S entries, noting excellent fuel economy and brake life as key attributes in the teams quest to win on the mountain.

-credit: conroy