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Douglas Impressive, But Officials Stifle Podium Opportunity
Returning to the wheel of a Dunlop V8 Supercar after a season in the Championship Series, Taz Douglas was more than ready for the season opener in Adelaide, and ready to challenge again for race wins. Armed with the only car outside of Triple 8 and Ford Performance Racing to win a race during 2012 - the Shane Van Gisbergen Stone Brothers Racing FG Falcon - Douglas had realigned himself with old Development Series boss Terry Wyhoon and the pair were hungry to return to the winners rostrum.
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Whilst many tipped the former Championship Series pilot to be a front runner, Taz expected that with the influx of former ‘main game’ cars into the series, that it wouldn’t be as easy as some people were predicting, but what neither he, nor car-owner Wyhoon expected, was that there would be issues outside of their control that would limit their pace early in the weekend.
“We knew how good the car was, and with Jimmy Stone next door with son Matt working on his car, we had access to the very man who built the car, but what none of us knew until just prior to qualifying was that one of the front anti-roll bars was broken,” Terry Wyhoon explained.
“We knew something wasn’t right, because everything we changed made negligible difference, so we kept looking and eventually found it. That meant we were effectively starting qualifying from scratch, and that’s why we were behind the eight ball.
“Taz impressed me no end all weekend, and right from qualifying he told me.. ‘Terry, I think the car is as good as 12th right now, but if you want me to go after tenth, I’m happy to do that, but it will increase our chances of going in the wall. If we stick with where we are, and work on the car, we will make it to the front of the pack.’
“I was blown away,” Wyhoon laughed. “Most young blokes would have told me to bolt on a set of new tyres and gone out for a time, but it may not have achieved more than a worn set of fresh tyres, or at worst, a broken car. That to me was maturity, and that’s what you want in a young driver.. a thinker..”
Off the sixth row in qualifying, Douglas was surprised to see the lights go out and immediately go to amber - the signal for an aborted start. They then went out again, and Taz could see that the bulk of the field was oblivious to the signals, and not wanting to be stationary midfield off the start, he began moving forward.
“That’s the universal indication of an aborted start, so I wasn’t in a hurry to get away, we were going to restart,” Taz explained afterwards. “But the call never came.”
Back in pit-lane, the normally unflappable Terry Wyhoon was looking for answers. “I couldn’t believe it.. I saw the same lights and understood exactly what Taz was doing, but the officials made no effort to fix what they admitted afterwards, was an error. They suggested that no-one was unduly affected by the incident and to just keep going.”
Having dropped from 12th to 18th, Taz knew he was going to have a big job ahead of him.
“He told me before the race, that if we could improve the car, he was pretty confident he could make it to sixth or seventh in race one, and try and lock onto the leaders for a potential podium in race two,” Wyhoon said.
“He was right, he made p six places, but from 18th back to 12th - which is where we started, and brought us home a straight car and a chance to work on it for race two.”
Off the sixth row, Taz got a great start in race two and made up two positions before the close of the opening lap, before continuing his way forward towards the leaders.
In the process he set the fourth fastest lap of the race, and crossed the line in fifth position, just a handful of car lengths behind the fourth placed car.
“The front three were pretty quick, and their cars were well sorted, so I’m not sure I could have beaten them on pace, but we were certainly good enough to be on their tail,” Taz admitted matter-of-factly. “If we hadn’t been screwed over by the mistake the starter made in race one, we would have been third or fourth for the weekend, and that’s not a bad start. As it turns out we’re seventh which considering the dramas we faced early, is a pretty fair save.
“I was rapt that we managed to recover so well as a team, and I can feel there’s an awful lot left in the car. If we can get on top of that before round two, I think we can run with the leaders no problem at all.”
“I can’t say enough about how impressed I am with Taz,” Wyhoon beamed afterwards.. “Despite all the drama we went through, I have never had a better race weekend, and never worked with a better driver. I’ve worked with him before, but that last year in the main game has changed him, and made him a more complete, thinking driver.
“I’m not the only one either. Jimmy [Stone] was keeping a close eye too, and he’s very impressed. There’s no question, with the broken anti-roll bar, and the cock up the starter made of race one, we were in a hole, and Taz dug us out of it in brilliant fashion.
“I can’t wait to get to Perth!”
For the Image Racing/ARVO squad their second round comes in Perth in Western Australia in two months time (3-5 May).
Rnd#1 2013 Dunlop V8 Supercar Championship
Clipsal 500, Adelaide, SA (28 February – 3 March)
Qualifying;
1. Chaz Mostert (FG Falcon) - 1:21.8474
2. Ashley Walsh (FG Falcon) - 1:22.2790
3. Dale Wood (FG Falcon) - 1:22.3379
4. Kristian Lindbom (FG Falcon) - 1:22.5932
5. Drew Russell (FG Falcon) - 1:22.6081
6. Cameron Waters (VE Commodore) - 1:22.6237
7. George Miedecke (FG Falcon) - 1:22.6865
8. Andrew Jones (VE Commodore) - 1:22.6899
9. Aaren Russell (FG Falcon) - 1:22.7304
10. Daniel Gaunt (VE Commodore) - 1:22.7694
11. Geoff Emery (VE Commodore) - 1:22.8743
12. Casey Stoner (VE Commodore) - 1:22.8781
13. Taz Douglas (ARVO FG Falcon) - 1:22.9107
Race One (20-laps);
1. Ashley Walsh (FG Falcon)
2. Chaz Mostert (FG Falcon)
3. Dale Wood (FG Falcon)
4. Andrew Jones (VE Commodore)
5. Kristian Lindbom (FG Falcon)
6. Drew Russell (FG Falcon)
7. George Miedecke (FG Falcon)
8. Daniel Gaunt (VE Commodore)
9. Aaren Russell (FG Falcon)
10. Cameron Waters (VE Commodore)
11. Geoff Emery (VE Commodore)
12. Taz Douglas (ARVO FG Falcon)
Race Two (23-laps);
1. Chaz Mostert (FG Falcon)
2. Dale Wood (FG Falcon)
3. Ashley Walsh (FG Falcon)
4. Kristian Lindbom (FG Falcon)
5. Taz Douglas (ARVO FG Falcon)
6. Aaren Russell (FG Falcon)
7. George Miedecke (FG Falcon)
8. Cameron Waters (VE Commodore)
9. Daniel Gaunt (VE Commodore)
10. Andre Heimgartner (FG Falcon)
Championship points (after one round of seven);
1. Chaz Mostert (288 points), 2. Ashley Walsh (279), 3. Dale Wood (267), 4. Kristian Lindbom (231), 5. George Miedecke (192), 6. Aaren Russell (186), 7. Taz Douglas (180), 8. Daniel Gaunt (174), 9. Drew Russell (174), 10. Cameron Waters (168).
ARVO Lager
Casella, the family-owned Australian business famous for its success in the wine industry, took the bold and exciting step into the beer market with the launch of a new premium lager, ARVO 51 during 2012.
It started in April last year, when Casella created the ‘Perfect Lager Project’ - a mission to discover what flavour profiles appealed the most to beer drinkers in order to help the company brew a lager Australians would love. Around 3,000 people took part using an innovative iPhone app that enabled them to rate their beer drinking moments and submit valuable information to Casella’s Brew Masters about preferred flavour profiles and tastes.
The result, ARVO 51, a thirst quenching lager with subtle hoppy characters, a touch of fresh fruitiness and a finish as crisp as a glacial wind - just the ticket for those long, hot Aussie summers.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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