Nissan Motorsport has collected a bag of respectable qualifying positions ahead of tomorrow’s opening races of the 2015 V8 Supercars Championship at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide.
NISMO Nissan driver Michael Caruso was the best of the Altima V8 quartet, qualifying sixth and 12th for the twin 125km races tomorrow afternoon.
James Moffat, driving the #99 Steadfast Nissan, was also competitive and will start 10th and 14th.
Jack Daniel’s driver Rick Kelly had an up and down opening day, setting blistering practice times. He was not able to convert that to qualifying pace, however, and will start from 17th and 18th respectively.
Todd Kelly, steering the Pilatus-backed Nissan, almost mirrored his younger brothers results, with ‘TK’ finishing 16th and 19th.
The track action at the Clipsal 500 continues tomorrow with two 125km races, followed by Sunday’s 250km race.
Michael Caruso, #23 NISMO Nissan Altima V8
“It’s not a bad way to start – obviously the first race with sixth is very encouraging,” said Michael Caruso.
“The second session wasn’t great for us, we would have liked to have been higher, but the good thing is that we have a practice session in the morning so we’ll have a chance to sort the car out a little bit more.
“The main thing here at Clipsal is to bring a straight car home, and if you are starting towards the front, you’ll have a good chance of bagging a good amount of points.”
James Moffat, #99 Steadfast Nissan Altima V8
“The first qualifying session was pretty good for us. We just missed out on getting a third flying lap in,”
“It seemed like a lot of people went faster on their third lap, and it certainly felt like that would have been the case for us.
“It’s a little frustrating, but on the other hand encouraging.
“Qualifying 14th in the second session wasn’t what we’re hoping for, but as we’ve come to expect, the field is incredibly tight and there’s not much in it. A small mistake by myself at Turn 11 probably cost me a bit of time.
“All in all, it was a good day for us. I’m happy with the balance of the car and it’s going to be some tough, long 125km race tomorrow. For me, it will be all about looking after the rear tyres, but we’re starting in reasonable spots and we’ll just do the best with what we have.”
Rick Kelly, #15 Jack Daniel’s Nissan Altima V8
“It started amazingly well for us, we just focused all day on ensuring that when we put new tyres on the car we would carry the pace,” said Rick Kelly.
“The balance change typically from old tyres to new is reasonably significant.
“Today we just didn’t quite get that right, we didn’t quite get the phasing right in qualifying, and a few things like that.
“I think we were working in the right places, but we got the direction just a little bit wrong.
“It’s a tough qualifying result, but it really is disappointing when we take control of the practice sessions, and the car was in good nick.
“Disappointing, but I’m the sort of driver that likes fighting back through the pack in the race.”
Todd Kelly, #7 Pilatus Nissan Altima V8
“We’ve made some really good gains – some big chunks,” said Todd Kelly.
“Unfortunately, we always seemed to be one step behind because we were just chasing the circuit conditions.
“I was on quite a good lap in the second qualifying but I caught the back of the field and had to abort the lap. That was the best the car had been and the best lap I’d done all day. If I’d finished it, we would have been much closer to Caruso and Moff.
“The car is a lot better than where we are, we just need to try and have a clear run.”
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