Oran Park: WPS/WOW Racing Saturday notes

BARGWANNA ON THE BOARD AT ORAN PARK

Jason Bargwanna has scored valuable championship points in the opening race of the Jim Beam 400 at Oran Park Raceway in Sydney, New South Wales today.

Bargwanna grabbed two points for his championship campaign in the #10 WPS Racing Falcon by finishing 15th in the first of three races to be held in this weekend's eighth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Bargwanna was followed home by team-mate Max Wilson, who drove to 16th place in the #8 WOW Racing Falcon.

Wilson started from 19th place after progressing through to the second segment of qualifying for the fourth consecutive round and the fifth time this season. Bargwanna, who has also moved through to the second segment of qualifying five times this season, qualified in 21st position.

Wilson moved into 15th with a strong start, while Bargwanna also moved his way forward in the opening laps only to lose spots when spun by Shane Price at Turn 3 on the second lap.

After the first round of pit stops, which were completed under Safety Car after Paul Dumbrell spun into the tyre wall at Turn 8, Wilson found himself in 18th place while Bargwanna was in 23rd position.

Both WPS/WOW Racing drivers enjoyed a good restart and after avoiding an incident at Turn 3 on the restart Wilson and Bargwanna were 15th and 16th respectively.

On lap 16 Bargwanna made his way past Wilson and the two set about chasing down 14th-placed Fabian Coulthard. Despite the best efforts of Bargwanna, the duo was unable to progress any further up the field, finishing right behind Coulthard.

Mark Skaife won today's opening race of the Jim Beam 400 ahead of Rick Kelly and Jamie Whincup.

The final two races of Round 8 of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series will be held at Oran Park Raceway tomorrow.

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY --

Jason Bargwanna -- #10 WPS Racing Falcon

"It's always good to score points, even if it is only two," said Bargwanna.

"We made a decent start but Shane Price turned me around at Turn 3 with a very silly move. I'm still not sure what the bloke was thinking.

"We had some good pace in the first half of the race but unfortunately I was unable to move past Fabian Coulthard in the last half of the race.

"Once you are behind someone it is fairly difficult to pace unless you have a decent speed advantage. It was disappointing not to be able to pass Fabian as I think Max would have been able to follow me through, but we will look to two more races tomorrow and aim for improvement."

Max Wilson -- #8 WOW Racing Falcon

"We finished the race higher than we qualified but we need to be higher," said Wilson.

"We will try our best to move up the order starting from 16th tomorrow.

"Now we will work at getting the car a little better for tomorrow and hopefully Bargs and I can move forward in the next two races.

"I definitely think the potential is there, but around Oran Park you really need the car to be working if you are going to pass cars. I am confident that we can achieve more tomorrow."

Craig Gore -- Team Owner

"We got halfway there by getting one car in the points today," said Gore.

"The entire team was willing Bargs on to pass one more car in the hope that Max could follow him through and get both our cars in the points. In the end Bargs had a crack but couldn't get the job done, but we have two more races tomorrow.

"We moved forward between qualifying and today's race and now our next task is to get further improvement for the next two races tomorrow."

-credit: wps/wow