Strong pace but no results for virtual Kelly Racing Ponies

Aiden Taylor 27 May 2020

Round Eight of the BP All Stars Eseries saw the team take on the Interlagos, the home of the Brazilian Grand Prix! We also returned to Phillip Island as the second venue of the night which was chosen by the fans via a social media vote. Interestingly Phillip Island wasn’t revealed to the drivers as the second track until this morning, making it tricky to get practice laps in!

In qualifying we had a 20-minute session at Interlagos to kick off the evening. André Heimgartner had a very solid performance in the NED Whisky Mustang claiming P6 on the grid. Rick Kelly meanwhile in the Castrol Racing Mustang had a tough time and could only get P26.

We then returned to Phillip Island for Race One qualifying. André was able to maintain the solid pace and take P9 while Rick improved slightly on Interlagos qualifying to take P23.

Race One saw Rick and André line up at Phillip Island for a twelve lap race. André got a cracking start, but was quickly taken out at turn four by a wild Fabian Coulthard at Turn 4. He had to limp to the pits for repairs then do a long stint to the end of the race. André was able to salvage P12.

Rick meanwhile had a battle in the Castrol Racing Mustang after he was punted off the track in the opening lap carnage. He eventually finished P24.

Race Two the team made the virtual trip to Brazil’s Autódromo José Carlos Pace. André had a fantastic start in the NED Mustang and was running P3 in the opening laps. Unfortunately pit stop strategy put him back in the mid-field after his first stop – André was able to fight back into the top-ten however a last lap penalty put him way back in P19.

During Race Two, Rick continued to struggle after getting tangled in another lap one incident. Following that he enjoyed some solid battles during in the Castrol Mustang and was able to improve on his qualifying position to come home in P24.

Race three of the evening was the reverse grid with a 20-lap, two stop format. Both drivers started from the pointy end of the grid and got great starts. On lap one André took the lead of the race and Rick settled in behind him in P2 during the safety car period! Unfortunately Rick and André stayed out on track during the safety car period while most of the field pitted.

This put both drivers significantly down the field after they took their two pit stops under normal race conditions. André finished P15 while Rick came home in P22.

Next week the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries returns to North America in Race One, while the drivers will vote on the second track of the night!

QUOTES

Rick Kelly, #15 Castrol Racing

“We had a tough night in the Castrol Mustang, it seems to be a recurring theme for me every week, qualify at the back and get cleaned up in all of the lap one carnage, which happened every race except for the first one where we had an amazing start with the reverse grid and were second for a bit until I followed André’s lead in not stopping under the safety car!”

“I shouldn’t have tried to copy his strategy because it clearly did not work, but it’s all good fun, we had a good laugh about it over the radio, we knew as soon as we went past pit lane and saw everyone else in the rear view pitting that we’d thrown away any chance of a podium.”

“Only a couple of weeks left of the Eseries and then we can jump in the real thing and I cannot wait.”

André Heimgartner, #7 NED Racing

“Tonight didn’t really go to plan for us which was pretty disappointing because we had a good qualifying and we had a few good opportunities to get some good results and points but we got a bit unlucky and didn’t get the pit stop timing right.”

“Race One was just unlucky we were a bit of a sitting duck when Fabian cleaned up myself and Bryce at Turn 4. Wasn’t a lot I could do about that but we did ok to salvage P12 from that.”

“Race Two we were up in P4 but once we pitted we came out behind a big train of cars, which was just bad timing and we were about effective P10 so I was going my hardest to try get some spots back and we ended up getting tangled up with another car and sent to the back with a penalty.”

“Race three with the reverse grid we were in a really good spot to get a podium and were actually leading the race for a while. But staying out and not pitting under the safety car wasn’t the right move and pretty much killed any chances of a good result as the whole field pitted.”

“Lucky Rick followed me so at least we both made the same mistake! We were cracking up over the radio when we saw all the cars behind pitting and we’d screwed up pretty bad. Lesson learnt and won’t be doing that again!”

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Strong pace but no results for virtual Kelly Racing Ponies

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