PMM Gold Coast event summary

Two in the top-8 for PMM on the streets of Surfers Paradise

Boris Said

Photo by: Chris Von Wieldt

Both Paul Morris Motorsports V8 Supercars have performed tremendously to finish inside the top-8 during today’s 300-kilometre race at the Armor All Gold Coast 600 despite both receiving drive-through penalties.

The V.I.P. Petfoods team of Steve Owen and Boris Said topped the pair with a solid seventh place while teammates in the Supercheap Auto entry, Russell Ingall and Jan Magnussen, finished right behind in eighth, respectively.

The fine results were a phenomenal display of teamwork and determination after each entry received dubious drive-through (Black Flag) penalties for what officials perceived as ‘Driving Infringements’.

“Time and time again these guys make calls too abruptly without consulting in-car cameras or looking at the whole scenario,” commented Paul Morris.

“After Bathurst we saw a bunch of guys lose championship points but at least they were able to race their race and cop the punishment once all the evidence was looked at.”

Magnussen was penalised for a lap one brush with Christian Klien at the Beach Chicane whilst amongst a crowded group of V8 Supercars piloted by international drivers.

Lap 44 saw Owen collide with a slowing and less experienced driver in Augusto Farfus at the chicane and he was soon penalised for being in contact with the driver and handed a drive-through penalty.

“We’re a relatively small outfit compared to most teams and its calls like today that ruin the possibilities of a win or podium finish because we sure as hell would have been up there had it not been for a couple of rough calls,” Morris added.

The drive of the day went to the #39 Ingall/Magnussen Supercheap Auto entry with the pair climbing eight spots from 16th on the grid. A super effort despite the drive-through penalty and some brake issues hampering the cars performance mid-race.

“Jan did an amazing job during his stint after coping a drive-through on lap 5,” commented Ingall.

“He put in the fastest times of any of the internationals for so many laps and had it back up to 14th by the time he handed me the reins which really sparked us back into contention.”

Once again Owen and the V.I.P. Petfoods Commodore proved a dominant Qualifying force as the Gold Coaster put the car 6th on the grid for Said to start the race from the third row.

They too had their fair share of issues with the drive-through penalty as well as losing 10 seconds when the car lost power off the spike during a routine pitstop on lap 55.

“Today was another one that slipped away with some rotten luck but seventh is still a great result for the team and fourth and sixth qualifying results has been a huge boost of confidence,” Owen commented.

“Boris did a great job today to keep the car inside the top-10 for his entire stint and the overall strategy was a lot better. Now the attention turns to the back-to-back rounds at Symmons Plains and Sandown and hopefully we can develop this turn of speed even further.”

This weekend’s Armor All Gold Coast 600 results sees Owen remain 17th in the Championship with Ingall advancing one place to 18th.

The next round of the International V8 Supercar Championship takes PMM to Symmons Plains for the Falken Tasmania Challenge- Nov 11-13.