ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship leader Ryal “The Kid” Harris is setting his sights on increasing the points gap when he takes to the track for Round 3 of the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at the SKY CITY Triple Crown, Hidden Valley, NT 19 -21 June.
Harris won back-to-back Darwin Rounds and Championships in 2012/ 2013, and with a dismal round in the top end last year and no Series win, he’s hoping that Darwin is his lucky charm.
“I was just thinking that the year QLD didn’t win the Origin was when I also had a bad round in Darwin, so maybe that’s also an omen. It’s one of my favourite tracks, last year we were in a Big Gun Racing Ute and this year we are with Matt Stone, so I’m hoping it will be a better year for us,” said Harris.
Harris isn’t too worried about carrying an extra 40 kg in his car with the new success ballast rule, after taking out Round 2 in Perth with the same weight.
“We weren’t the fastest in Perth, but there is also a hill in Perth whereas Darwin is pretty flat. We also only get four new tyres at this round. (Teams normally get 6 for the first 2 rounds so teams can build a tyre bank). I prefer racing on old tyres, so I like it when everyone’s tyres are old,” the former Champ said.
Driving a Holden for the first time this season, David Sieders is back in the championship run after banking his first podium for 2015 during the last round in Perth. He won the Darwin round last year and holds the record for the most amount of Pole Awards (3), five race wins and has been on podium four out of the five times he has raced in the Top End.
“We finally showed what we should have showed in Adelaide with the Commodore, people thought we didn’t have our head around it but we proved it in Perth, so bring on Darwin in that regard. We have always shown good form there, the only time we haven’t won we finished second, one was on a countback and the other was only a couple of points off the win so I’m really looking forward to the Round,” said Sieders.
Young-gun and Auto One Racer Adam Marjoram is currently sitting second in the Series, and will be forced to carry an extra 30 kg success ballast but he’s not letting that worry him.
“It’s a double edge sword. It’s a bit of a negative in terms of performance but does signify we are second in championship. I said at the start of the year if we are carrying success ballast, we are doing something right, so hopefully we can carry if for a bit longer.
The 22 year old West Aussie has never placed better than 10th in a race in the top end and is hoping to turn that around this year.
“Darwin has always been a bit of an interesting round for us. In 2013 we DNF’D (Did Not Finish) due to a racing incident and last year Race 1 wasn’t a dream start, so we’re hoping for a nice clean round and to keep our performance going from Clipsal and Perth and see where we end up,” said Marjoram.
George Miedecke running in third in the Series will also carry a success ballast of 20 kg.
Returning to the field this round will be Layton Barker, who raced in Sydney last year, he will steer George Elliots #55 Holden. Victorian, Warrick Spooner will also return to the field after his debut in Perth and will continue to steer Team Kleen Racing’s #41 Holden.
Leigh Nicolaou is leading the V8 Ute Rookie title on 165 ahead of Adam Beechey on 130 points and Jordan Skinner in third on 122 points.
In 2015, all V8 Ute practice, qualifying sessions and races will be broadcast live across a combination of the Fox Sports and TEN platforms, with digital coverage through Foxtel Go.
International coverage has been extended to include over 40 countries. The series will feature 24 races over 8 rounds, all on the V8 Supercar calendar.
See below full schedule for Round 4 of the East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing SeriesFriday, 19th June Practice 1 8:45am Friday, 19th June Practice 2 1:10pm Saturday, 20th June Qualifying 10:30am Saturday, 21st June Race 1 3:11pm Sunday, 21st June Race 2 11:40am Sunday, 22nd June Race 3 4:40pm
