MEDIA RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, SEPTEMBER 17 2006

CONSOLIDATION THE KEY FOR RUSSELL IN MALLALA

Newcastle teenager Drew Russell consolidated his Ferntree Gully Holden Privateers Cup points lead in Round 5 of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship held at Mallala Motorsport Park, north of Adelaide, this weekend.

Russell entered the weekend with a healthy lead over second-placed HSV GTS pilot Mark Cohen and, with the remaining rounds in 2006 ticking down, knew a solid collection of points wouldn’t go astray.

The Privateers Cup was dominated for the weekend by South Australian driver Steve Knight. Knight, a former regular in GTP, was having a one-off run at his home circuit aboard a Mitsubishi Lancer, on a weekend where four wheel drive Lancer’s also dominated the outright class.

Aboard the Go Karts Go Mazda RX7, Russell took third in class in the opening race behind Knight and Cohen, before moving up to take second place in Privateers Cup for Races 2 and 3 behind Knight.

“We had a couple of car little problems in the first race, but other than that it was smooth sailing,” said Russell. “The car got a bit too hot and slowed down, and we also had an issue with the brakes which meant I had to pump the pedal all the time.

“Before Race 2 we changed the brake pads, bled the brake system and we managed to keep the car slightly cooler, which allowed me to drive the car as hard as I could.

“In the last race, my fastest lap (1:19.8727) was about half a second faster than we went in qualifying, whereas most of the other cars were between half a second and a second slower than their qualifying times.

“So to be able to improve our pace as the weekend went on was satisfying.”

The results across the three races saw Russell take second place for the weekend in the Privateers Cup ranks, and advance to 344 points in the class standings. With two rounds remaining, his advantage over Cohen has increased by one, to 49 points.

“The goal for this weekend was really to make sure we are in a good position for the Privateers Cup title,” said the 18 year-old. “With the experience Steve Knight has in these cars and here at Mallala, the battle between Mark and I was always going to be for second.

“We were able to close the gap to Knight throughout the weekend and stay ahead of Mark in the last two races to grab second in class, which helps us in relation to the points.

“We’ve still got a handy lead which could be important because the next round is at Symmons Plains, which is a real horsepower circuit. It will suit Mark’s car, but we’ll go there and give it everything we’ve got.”

Next stop for the STS Australian Performance Car Championship will be Round 6 at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains Raceway on November 10-12.

Global Racing Industries thanks the support of Go Karts Go, Ric Shaw Performance, Oran Park Raceway, The Kloster Group, Koala Glass and Bells Radiators.

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Newcastle teenager Drew Russell consolidated his Ferntree Gully Holden Privateers Cup points lead in Round 5 of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship.
With two rounds remaining in the 2006 STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship, Go Karts Go Mazda RX7 pilot Drew Russell has a 49 point lead in the Ferntree Gully Holden Privateers Cup.

High resolution photos for media use and other resouces can be found at www.tokencameo.com/resources/global/