MEDIA RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AUGUST 20 2006

QUICK LILLIE MAINTAINS TOP FIVE POSITION DESPITE TROUBLESOME WEEKEND

Round 3 of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship at Sydney’s Eastern Creek wasn’t all smooth sailing for Ravage Racing’s Dean Lillie, but there were plenty of positives to be taken from the weekend.

With the opening two rounds contested at circuits well-suited to the turbo, all-wheel drive cars in the series, Eastern Creek represented a chance for V8’s like the LPGAS1 HSV GTS to claw back some ground in the point’s battle.

Sure enough, the weekend started with strong pace from the Melbourne team in practice and qualifying. Before a fuel surge midway through the session, Lillie recorded a time of 1:44.3775, which would eventually earn him fifth on the grid for the opening race.

“We’re still chasing a little bit of rear end grip, the rear end isn’t quite as stable in the fast corners as we want it,” Lillie said. “Other than that, the car’s excellent. We’ve got good pace, and if not for the fuel issue we could’ve been further up the grid, so it’s looking promising.”

However, as is so often the case in motorsport, a minor part failure threw a spanner in the works. On the warm-up lap for Sunday’s opening race, an engine belt broke, necessitating a visit to the pits to fit a spare.

When he returned to the track, Lillie was two laps behind the pack. He eventually finished 12th, but not before setting the third fastest race lap. This strong pace carried over into Race 2, with Lillie charging up to sixth place by the end of the opening tour.

Latching onto the end of a five-car battle for second place, Lillie moved up to fifth place on Lap 5. Two laps later, he set the second fastest lap of the race; however his hard work came unstuck in an incident at the Turn 2 hairpin.

“Peter Floyd and Beric Lynton were battling through Turn 1 ahead of me, which slowed them down and gave me an opportunity to have a look down the inside into Turn 2,” Lillie explained.

“Unfortunately I braked on the marbles, the car wouldn’t stop and I hit Crampy [Steve Cramp].”

The incident ended Lillie’s race, and brought about a rear of field starting position for the final 12-lap race. Like Race 2, Lillie made steady inroads early, and was up to fourth place by Lap 5.

With the LPGAS1 HSV again showing impressive pace, Lillie closed the gap to the leading three cars. While he couldn’t quite break into the Top 3, Lillie finished under 1.6 seconds behind race winner Lynton and recorded the fastest lap of the race, 1:44.7820.

“After the first two races, it was important to get some good points in Race 3,” he said. “So getting fourth place in that race means the weekend wasn’t a total loss.

“I could get up to [third placed driver] Graham Alexander in Turn 2 in the last race, but with the four-wheel drive grip and drive he had coming out of the corner, I’d spend the rest of the lap trying to close the gap again.

“We made a change overnight, and the car was a lot easier to drive. It was perfect today which was reflected in our race pace."

After three of seven rounds, Lillie is fifth in the championship standings with 126.5 points. The next round of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship will be at the team’s home circuit, Victoria’s Phillip Island Raceway on August 19-20.

“Bring on Phillip Island,” Lillie enthused. “We should go well down there. I was third there in this car last year, and it’s a circuit which suits the car.

“It’s our home round, and the home round for our sponsors LPGAS1, so we’ll be keen to put on a good show for them and try to convert our pace from this weekend into a good result.”

In the meantime, racing from Eastern Creek can be seen on SBS’ Speedweek at Midday on Sunday July 23, and Channel 9’s Speed Machine, on Saturday July 29, also at Midday.

Ravage Racing thanks LPGAS1, Sprintgas, Martini Racing, A&P Plaster, Oz Bore Directional Drilling, EFI Dynamics, Holden Motorsport, Pirelli and Toperformance Koni for their support.

For more information about Ravage Racing, visit www.ravageracing.com.au

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Media Resources (click for high-res) ::

Ravage Racing's Dean Lillie was one of the fastest cars on raceday in Round 3 of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship at Eastern Creek Raceway. (Ravage Racing / Dirk Klynsmith Photo)

Despite a troublesome weekend, Victorian Dean Lillie maintains fifth place in the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship standings. (Ravage Racing / Dirk Klynsmith Photo)