DAVID Sieders finished 23rd at Winton Motor Raceway’s fifth round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

The Gulf Western Oils driver qualified on the brink of the top 10, however, a series of misfortunes and mechanical dramas kept him out of contention.

In Race 1, Sieders was forced to take to the grass at the first turn to avoid an incident. He lost many places and eventually finished 14th, having started 12th.

The second race saw Sieders park his car when his car destroyed its differential.

Race 3 was no better. A rare gearbox problem sent him to the pits to get it fixed.

While the car was being serviced, the team made a set-up change, making the car faster. Despite being many laps down on the leaders, Sieders setting his lap times that would have comfortably seen him in the top 10.

Sieders now runs in 19th place in the FV8 Series.

SIEDERS ON HIS WINTON WEEKEND:“We had plenty of promise, but just couldn’t take a trick,” Sieders said.

“The car definitely got better through the weekend, but there was no real result for the Gulf Western Oilds team.

“Qualifying was reasonably encouraging, but that was all for nothing when  I ran off the track at the start of Race 1.

“Everyone bottled up at the first turn and I just took to the grass. It was the safest option. I actually would have got out of it okay, but (Marcus) Zukanovic had a spin in front of me as we were crossing the grass and it slowed me up. I might have even be able to make a spot!

“After that, I just couldn’t make any ground and only picked up a few spots. I didn’t have the car to do the job fast enough.

“The broken diff in Race 2 was very disappointing, and then I couldn’t make any more progress in the last race when the car got jammed in two gears. I think its only ever happened to a couple of cars in V8 Supercar, so it’s a pretty rare problem.

“The encouraging bit is that we had great pace after we fixed the problem. The team made a small adjustment and the car was the fastest it was all weekend.“Our car can be really quick, but it can be hard to drive as well. To have that speed come at the end of the weekend is just a nightmare.”

SIEDERS ON THE NEXT ROUND AT BATHURST:“We’ll be doing plenty of work over the next few weeks to make sure we are ale to give Bathurst our best.

“It’s always great to go to the mountain. We’ve got a test day to try some new things and get some confidence back.”