Australian Industrial Supplies' David Sieders has taken the cash and the points in a dominating performance on the opening day of the 2011 Auto One V8 Ute Series - protected by Armor All on the streets of Adelaide yesterday.
Topping every session, the 26 year old from Londonderry in Sydney's West stamped his authority on the rest of the field, taking his second pole position in as many attempts on the track for the category, as well as the Race 1 win in a display of sheer pace.
"My car is an absolute rocket out there, and this place has just been working for me the past few attempts," said Sieders, "we’ve put a lot of hard work in going in to this year and it looks like it paid off".
"I’m happy with such a dominant qualifying result and race win, especially backing up from the same results last year, but it's only the start, and I'm really focussed on the big picture this year."
With four sessions for the first day of racing of the year, Sieders found himself at the top of the Practice One time sheets with a last minute flying lap, and used the second session to simply practice banking a quick time.
"Topping the non-race sessions is good, but doesn't always translate into qualifying or race results," said Sieders, "we used Practice Two as a qualifying simulation, which went well with all three Ute prepared by Sieders Racing recording Top Five positions".
Sieders qualifying session appeared quite effortless - setting his fastest time on his second lap, Sieders was back in pit lane a lap later where he watched the rest of the field fail to get within seven tenths of his 1:37.3743 time, giving him his second pole position on the circuit, after he clinched it on debut in 2010.
"It was a bit of a surprise; I didn’t even know I had pole," said Sieders, "I had thought that it was quick, and so when I asked team, they told me I had pole, and to come in next lap".
"The tyres come on very quick, and after the first couple of laps, you're not really going to get much more out of the them," said Sieders, "it's a big weekend with four races, so tyre management is going to be crucial".
For the final session of the day, Sieders got a good start in Race One to hold the lead into the first corner, and soon pulled away from the field, opening a gap of three seconds by the end of the first lap.
"I got a pretty good jump, and the others held each other up on first 3 laps immensely, which let me skip away," said Sieders.
Powering ahead, Sieders had stretched the lead out to over five and a half seconds by lap three, and came within six hundredths of a second of the race lap record, before easing back a little at the end of the race, but still taking the chequered flag with a 2.8 second margin.
"Of course it's a great feeling to take out the first points of the year," said Sieders, "but it's only the first race of 25, add in seven more qualifying sessions with points on offer, and there's a very long year ahead of us".
Sieders will start Race Two from 18th position, after he drew the highest possible number for this weekend in the reverse grid lotto as the winner of Race One.
"The best position I could have started from was going to be 14th, and I saw that the red balls were the low numbers, so when the blue one came out, I knew it wasn't going to be great," said Sieders, "I'll be relying a lot on instinct, and trying not to take too many risks to get through the field to bring the car home straight, with the best result I can."
The V8 Ute Series will be back on track for Race Two at 3pm today, the result of which will determine the starting grid for Race Three on Saturday (being the finishing positions of Race Two) and which will be televised as live at 12:30 (AEDT) on Network 7 and the final race wrapping up the weekend on Sunday will see the drivers start based upon aggregate points for the round, which will be televised as live at 1pm (AEDT).
