James Moffat continues strong form at Winton Raceway

After taking his maiden V8 Supercars race win yesterday, James Moffat has again stood tall at Winton Raceway, taking a big bag of points home from the rural Victorian circuit.

Moffat finished 11th and eighth today, following on from his landmark race win yesterday – Nissan’s first win in Australian Touring Car Championship for 21 years.

James Moffat

Photo by: Edge Photographics

In the second race, Moffat started from ninth and ran as high as fifth, only for a late Safety Car (and some cunning strategy from those around him) that saw him slip to an eventual eighth. For Moffat’s Nissan team-mates, it was a difficult day.

Michael Caruso failed to finish both races after being taken out in separate incidents – the second of which was a clash with Craig Lowndes that saw Caruso spear into the fence with three corners of the race remaining.

Rick Kelly finished a disappointing 22nd in the first race before being involved in an incident with Mark Winterbottom in the second race, ruling him out of the race in a rare DNF.

Todd Kelly took a fighting 14th in Race 26, only to be clouted by Jamie Whincup at the start of Race 27, putting him in the fence.

The next event of the V8 Supercars Championship will be the first of the 2013 endurance races – the Wilson Security Sandown 500 on September 13-15.

James Moffat – #360 Norton Hornet Nissan Altima: “Saturday was a great day for us all, and to be one-two with Michael made it even more special, but today, we missed it in qualifying by outsmarting ourselves,” said James Moffat.

“We went the wrong way in the first qualifying and ended up in 25th. We went back to the way the car was yesterday and ended up ninth, so that was a huge improvement.

“In the first race, we finished 11th, which was fantastic because the car was really looking after its tyres and I had great pace. Unfortunately, I was coming from too far back to move up any further.

“In the second race, we took the approach of looking after the tyres, and we got to a stage where a few of them were starting to come back to us and the Safety Cars came out, which hurt us.

“But it wasn’t a bad day to finish eighth, but looking at the results of the other Nissans, it was pretty disappointing for them.”

Rick Kelly – #15 Jack Daniel’s Nissan Altima: "We had an incident out there and I got to watch the last bit of the race from the side line and I've got to say it's been a long time since I've done that and I've got to commend the volunteers and the safety guys," Rick Kelly said.

"The job they did out there to recover the cars and to keep everything running smoothly, I haven't seen that perspective before and it's definitely impressive, so well done to those guys.

"Also standing on the sideline watching the end of the race it was an exciting one, but the cars are fantastic to watch and it's an exciting sport, so you've got to pinch yourself that you've got the chance.

"It was a very eventful weekend for us, today the track shifted a bit and we didn't get the car up the front in qualifying, so we were back in the race.

"We tried something in Race 1 and it wasn't kind to us as far as drivability goes and then in the second race EP got the car straight back into the window and it was very pleasant to drive.

"As far as the incident goes, it's very disappointing, but sometimes that's motorsport."

Todd Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel’s Racing Nissan Altima: "The car was improving all day, we had a completely different set up for qualifying and it was a lot nicer to drive," Todd Kelly said.

"I didn't get the most out of it in the second session, but we improved it for the races and made a couple of really good changes for the last one.

"It would have been good to see where we ended up. I got a really good start, but it only lasted for a few seconds and I'm still unsure of exactly what happened there, but the car is pretty second hand.”

Michael Caruso – #36 Norton Hornet Nissan Altima: “Unfortunately, we were looking good all day, but it wasn’t enough,” said Michael Caruso.

“I don’t know if it was wrong spot at the wrong time, but both my incidents today were out of my control.

“In the first race, I got hit from behind which bent the lower control arm, and then in the last race, we came from 20th to 10th, which I would have been stoked with. However, the car ended in the fence with three corners of the race to go, and the boys don’t deserve that.

“We’ve got a bit of time before we head off to Sandown, so we’ll go home and regroup.

“We had a great day yesterday, and that makes today even more disappointing. It’s difficult, because you have to take every position you can in this category. I’ve had too many DNFs this year, and I don’t think any of them are my fault.”

Nissan Motorsport