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2006 V8 SUPERCAR: PHILLIP ISLAND

• 2006 CHAMPION, R KELLY: “I’m stoked. I think the team did a fantastic job of preparing the car. We got a result the team really deserves. Our car lacked a little bit of pace early in the weekend, but it is all about being positive. We always told ourselves ‘we’ll get back' ..."
• BEFORE FINAL RACE OF THE YEAR (RACE 3): Both drivers on equal points: 3258
• BEFORE ROUND: 1 Rick Kelly 3068 points| 2 Lowndes 3061 | 3 Winterbottom 2792
• R KELLY: "By about 5 pm on Sunday, I will be enjoying the best time of my life or the most disappointing ... Craig and I go into the final round on an even footing. Essentially, we have to beat each other to grab the trophy. Holden against Ford, head to head. It was the way it was meant to be, and it should be a fair dinkum battle down to the wire. "
• C LOWNDES: "This will be a true Ford versus Holden battle, and the pressure is really going to be on Rick and myself to get the job done ... He will be hard to beat, and I think it will be the case of the last man standing at the end of the weekend, with both the Falcon and Commodore very evenly matched."

RACE SCHEDULE:

• TOP 10 SHOOT OUT - SAT, DEC 9, 2006
• RACE 1: SAT, 3.40 PM, 23 LAPS, DEC 9, 2006
• RACE 2: SUN, 11.20 AM, 32 LAPS, DEC 10, 2006
• RACE 3: SUN, 3.30 PM, 32 LAPS, DEC 10, 2006

RACE 3

RACE 3 , SUN, DEC 10, 2006
	1 Mark Winterbottom
	2 Garth Tander
	3 JASON Richards
	4 Jason Bright
	5 TODD Kelly *** ROUND WINNER ***
	6 Cameron McConville
	7 Jamie Whincup
	8 Steven Richards
	9 Greg Murphy
	10 Dean Canto
	18 Rick Kelly *** 2006 CHAMPION *** 29 Craig Lowndes *RUNNER UP*

RACE REPORT - TOLL RACING

• Rick's Crown as Toll HSV completes 2006 title double
• Toll HSV Dealer Team’s young gun Rick Kelly won his first V8 Supercar Championship in an action-packed, winner-take-all showdown in the final race of the series at Phillip Island.
• The 23-year-old became the second youngest champion in V8 Supercar history when he came back from a pit lane penalty to defeat rival Craig Lowndes.
• The icing on the cake for Kelly was a round win for his older brother Todd and a great fight-back from 18th place by team-mate Garth Tander that almost netted him a race win.
• Rick Kelly now has completed every V8 Supercar driver’s dream, of winning the big double , Bathurst (twice) and the Driver’s Championship.
• Kelly said that while winning his first Bathurst in 2003 was a big thrill, winning the championship was a lot harder.
• The Driver’s Championship also completed the double for the Toll HSV Dealer Team, which wrapped up the Team’s Championship in Bahrain.
• In a promoter’s dream, the Mildura driver and Lowndes went into the final race of the weekend , and the year , all square on points and side by side on the second row of the grid.
• Both Kelly and Lowndes managed to jump second-placed Winterbottom off the line and move into place behind race leader Todd Kelly.
• On lap 2, Kelly pulled up on the inside of Lowndes at the hairpin, and contact was made between Kelly’s No.15 Commodore and Lowndes’ Falcon. Lowndes and Todd Kelly then tangled and spun while Rick Kelly moved into the lead.
• However, his position at the front was short-lived as officials deemed that Kelly had made an indiscretion, and awarded him a drive-through penalty.
• Kelly immediately served the drive-through and then set about chasing after the field. By the time the chequered flag came out, he had made up 10 places to finish 18th
• Combined with the fifth and fourth from the two earlier races for the weekend, he came seventh for the round with 240 points , one place behind team-mate Tander who came sixth on 256 points.
• Lowndes finished 28th for the race and ninth for the round on 227 points.
• The final championship points tally was 3308 points to Kelly and 3271 points to Lowndes , a margin of 37 points.
• The final-race showdown was set up in the morning’s Race 2 when Lowndes led Kelly to the finish line by a mere 2 seconds, in fourth and fifth places.
• Kelly got a great start, jumping two spots on the first lap and then rocketing past Lowndes and into second place behind his brother Todd on Lap 2.
• It was all looking great until Lap 10 when Kelly pitted for two tyres. Hearts in the Toll HSV pit garage sank as the noise of prolonged rattle gun action signified a sticking wheel nut.
• Finally, the recalcitrant nut came off and the new front tyre went on, but Lowndes, who had pitted on the same lap, was out in front.
• However, Kelly fought back to catch Lowndes again within five laps, but he couldn’t quite get in a position to make the overtaking lunge.
• In a controversial decision late in the race, Tander was given a drive-through penalty for allegedly blocking Lowndes , a charge Tander hotly denies.
• Tander said his understanding of the rules was that blocking was allowed in the last few laps of the race when racing for position.
• However, Tander was nevertheles pleased with his weekend and his pace all season, which gave him two round victories, saying he was looking forward to 2006 already.
• No.15 Rick Kelly (Race 1 , 5th, Race 2 - 4th, Race 3 , 18th. Round , 7th, 240pts. Championship , 1st, 3308 pts): “I’m stoked. I think the team did a fantastic job of preparing the car. We got a result the team really deserves. Our car lacked a little bit of pace early in the weekend, but it is all about being positive. We always told ourselves ‘we’ll get back’. Finishing 18th is not the ideal way of winning the championship. There was an incident on the track and we got the pit lane penalty, but nevertheless managed to get back and win the championship. Our car's steering got wounded on the first lap when Craig ran me wide, and our car would have been a lot quicker if that had not have happened. Our strategy this year was to finish in the top five each round, and it got us the championship. That’s the way Russell (Ingall) won the championship last year and over the summer we analysed the way he won it and that’s the approach we took as well. I am looking forward to the new points system next year, and we’ll have a look at our strategy for that this summer.”
• No.16 Garth Tander (Race 1- 2; Race 2 , 18th; Race 3 , 2nd. Round , 6th, 256pts. Championship , 4th, 2965pts): “The car was so good in the last race. We are very very happy with that result and the whole weekend. I still think the drive-through in Race 2 was wrong. The rule is that you can block when racing for position late in the race, and I thought it was late in the race and they obviously didn’t think so. I defended once and I was instantly black-flagged. So I am a little disappointed, but the team has been fantastic all season. We have been the form team this year , we proved that by winning the Team’s Championship with a round to go. So, I can’t wait for next year.”

RACE REPORT - Ford Performance Racing

• MARK WINTERBOTTOM WINS FINAL 2006 RACE & FPR TAKES SECOND IN THE TEAMS' CHAMPIONSHIP
• December 10, 2006 - Ford Performance Racing (FPR) ended its most successful season in four years at Victoria's Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit when Ford Credit FPR Falcon driver Mark Winterbottom raced to a spirited victory in the final V8 Supercar race of the season. Winterbottom's results of 7th in race one, 2nd in race two and 1st in race three earned the 25 year old second place overall for the round and consolidated his third place in the 2006 V8 Supercar Drivers' Championship.
• CAT FPR Falcon driver Jason Bright completed his two year tenure at FPR by finishing 5th overall for the round after being involved in several exciting race battles during the weekend. Bright displayed strong race pace throughout this final round, but lucked out with a spin in race one, the experienced driver making it up to 4th by the third and final heat of the round.
• The weekend saw determined drives by both FPR Falcon drivers, the most exciting of which saw Winterbottom hold off the advances of Holden's Garth Tander in the final two laps of race three, while Bright held off the fast pursuing Ford rival Jamie Whincup while racing with two flat-spotted tyres during the final laps of the second heat. Winterbottom and Bright's efforts were supported by some of the fastest FPR crew pit-stops of the season at Phillip Island, with today's 2.87 second stop (Winterbottom, Race 2) being the best yet for the Prodrive team, setting a new benchmark ahead of the 2007 season.
• FPR's 2006 season results also secured the Prodrive team its first two car finish in the V8 Supercar Championship top five, with Rick Kelly taking the Championship victory (3308pts) from Craig Lowndes (3271pts) and Winterbottom (3089pts), with Garth Tander (2965pts) taking fourth ahead of Bright (2868pts).
• Further to this outstanding season result, FPR has also finished second in the V8 Supercar Teams' Championship, reflecting the team's consistency and outright speed this season.
• This momentous final V8 Supercar round of the 2006 season saw the battle for the Championship go down to the final race, with a race three impact between Rick Kelly, Craig Lowndes and Todd Kelly proving to be pivotal to the final result.
• No.5 Mark Winterbottom - "It's a great feeling to finally win my first V8 Supercar sprint race. I think back to watching these races on television when I was younger and wanting to one day win, and then to cross the finish line and take the chequered flag on your own is a pretty awesome experience. We had a great car and the most fantastic pit stops, one was under three seconds and the other 3.1 seconds today. We passed everyone except for Todd Kelly in the pits and it's a tribute to the crew and all of the very hard work that they have done to make us the fastest in pit lane. We achieved our goals of securing third in the Championship and finishing second in the Teams' Championship and this is a great way to head into the new season."
• No.6 Jason Bright - "We had some tyre problems this weekend and I destroyed the right front twice this weekend - making it hard work to get back into the top five. We had great car speed this weekend and a podium may have been possible and a very fitting way to say good bye to FPR. It has been a great couple of years, in fact today is a bit of a sad day for me because everything has been working so well together. I can see the team achieving much bigger and better things in the future and I wish all at FPR the very best."
• FPR Motorsport Director, Tim Edwards - "An absolutely awesome end to the season, what a fantastic weekend and what a fantastic year. Our pit stops were sensational, we did several stops which were bordering on two seconds and our drivers put in great performances all season. I'd like to thank Jason for all of the work that he has done over the past two years to develop our cars to where they are now. To finish the last race on top bodes well for the new season - bring on the Clipsal 500! "

RACE REPORT - HOLDEN RACING

• Kelly victorious and Skaife third as HRT closes out 2006 at Phillip Island
• In a brilliant end to the V8 Supercar Championship Series, the Holden Racing Team's Todd Kelly has won his second round of 2006, clinching victory in a controversial final round of the championship at Phillip Island.
• After dominating today's first 32 lap race to lead home Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes to the chequered flag, Kelly found himself in major drama on lap two of the final, championshipdeciding race.
• Leading the pack into the turn four hairpin, the HRT ace was hit by the Llate braking owndes as the latter received a light touch from Toll LHSV's Rick Kelly.
• Lowndes ended up hitting the elder Kelly brother's HRT Commodore, spinning both. th Todd was able to resume, albeit down in 13 , while championship aspirant Lowndes was collected by an unsighted Will Davison and the subsequent damage forced him to limp to the end with a damaged car out of the title fight.
• With the round victory up for grabs, Kelly mounted a strong comeback drive to end up finishing fifth in the 31lapper, giving him enough points to hang on and win the round from Winterbottom and teammate Mark Skaife.
• Skaife struggled with setup on his No.2 Commodore in the first race of the day, unable to do much as he slipped back through the field to finish an eventual sixth.
• But the fivetime champ was on song in the last race and he had to be! With the field bunching up under brakes into the hairpin on the opening lap, Skaife elected to stay on the outside to avoid the likely trouble.
• He ended up receiving a tap and spun to the tail of the field with a lot of work to do. th Left languishing in 28 , Skaife began a fight back through the field.
• He elected to stay out for longer than the leaders before making his compulsory tyre stop, pitting for right side tyres on lap 14 after running in the lead.
• Once the pit stop cycle had ended, Skaife was outside the top 10 and ran home in an th eventual 11 place, enough to give him the final spot on the last podium of the 2006 season. th On a strong day for Holden, Todd's brother Rick claimed the championship with 18 place in the final race after receiving a drive through penalty for the Lowndes incident.
• HRT QUOTEBOOK
• Todd Kelly (No.22 Holden Racing Team Commodore VZ)
• "We tried hard all weekend to get our car to be really well setup. But I have to admit to keeping an eye on Rick's progress over the weekend, as well as Craig's. It would have been nice to get a clean sweep and win all of the races after topping qualifying and the Shootout. In the last race I was heading into the hairpin and I thought Craig was far enough back that I could turn in without any problems. But the next minute I know he was in my door! I don't know what happened behind me, so I'll have to go and take a look at the video to get an idea. I thought the show was over for me after that, but I had no damage. Last year here we really struggled but we nailed the setup from the start and fine tuned it as the weekend went along. Hopefully Dad will buy some beers tonight!"
• Mark Skaife (No.2 Holden Racing Team Commodore VZ)
• "The car in the first race today was the worst it had been all weekend. But by the last race it was very good. On the run into the hairpin I tried to stay to the outside to get clear of the congestion, but I got spun around anyway and dropped to the back of the field. The in and out laps around the pit stop were very good and the car flowed much better in that race, which had been my main area of complaint with the car all weekend. We've won the qualifying award for the year, which proves we have had great pace, but it has just been that slump in the middle of the year that put us in the points in a position where it doesn't look like we've had a good year. We look forward now to coming out of the blocks strongly in 2007 with the new VE Commodore."

RACE 2

RACE 2 , SUN, DEC 10, 2006
	1 TODD Kelly
	2 Mark Winterbottom
	3 Craig Lowndes
	4 Rick Kelly
	5 Steven Richards
	6 Mark Skaife
	7 Will Davison
	8 Jason Bright
	9 Jamie Whincup
	10 Cameron McConville

RACE 1

RACE 1 , SAT, DEC 9, 2006
	1 TODD Kelly
	2 Garth Tander
	3 Mark Skaife
	4 Craig Lowndes
	5 Rick Kelly
	6 Will Davison
	7 Mark Winterbottom
	8 Steven Richards
	9 James Courtney
	10 Jason Bright

GRID

TOP 10 SHOOT-OUT, SAT, DEC 9, 2006
	1 TODD Kelly
	2 Mark Skaife
	3 Garth Tander
	4 Jason Bright
	5 Craig Lowndes
	6 Jason Richards
	7 Mark Winterbottom
	8 Will Davison
	9 Rick Kelly
	10 James Courtney

RACE PREVIEW

PREVIEW - TRIPLE EIGHT

• Lowndes is just 7 points away from leader Rick Kelly, and with 320 points on offer for the round, he will certainly be out to 'make the most of now' when the cars hit the track, with the Phillip Island circuit demanding drivers find a precise setup in order to get the best from their cars.
• Triple Eight Race Engineering Team Principal, Roland Dane said he and the entire team were pleased to be able to introduce Vodafone into the V8 Supercar category earlier than anticipated, and hoped to reward the communications leader with a stellar result.
• "Vodafone will make its first appearance on our Falcons this weekend, with their brand statement 'make the most of now' featuring prominently for the round," said Dane.
• "It is great that we have this opportunity to provide them with a branding platform in the most crucial race of the year for the team, and I am certain both Craig and Jamie will do a fantastic job to round out the season, with the goal of winning our first championship firmly fixated in everyone's sights."
• "We would like to welcome Vodafone on board this weekend and look forward to building a strong relationship in the exciting years to come with Triple Eight Race Engineering."
• Lowndes was enthused at the prospect of campaigning the striking new teaser livery, and said he was fully-prepared for the challenges of the Phillip Island Grand Finale event.
• "It's great to see strong support from our primary 2007 sponsor Vodafone already making its way onto the cars for Phillip Island, it will give the fans a taste of what is to come next season," said Lowndes.
• "Phillip Island is a track that rewards a setup which allows the car to flow through the wide open corners, and accelerate strongly and smoothly onto the straights," he said.
• "It's one of my favourite tracks on the calendar, and I feel I'm actually at my strongest here when it is raining, so I'm hoping for a wet race."
• "This will be a true Ford versus Holden battle, and the pressure is really going to be on Rick and myself to get the job done."
• "He will be hard to beat, and I think it will be the case of the last man standing at the end of the weekend, with both the Falcon and Commodore very evenly matched."
• Also aiming for his share of the spoils at Phillip Island will be Jamie Whincup, looking to put the disappointment of the previous two rounds behind him and round out the 2006 season on a high.
• Even after winning the two biggest events of the year, Whincup is not content to rest on his laurels, and is eager to see his Falcon -- featuring the 'make the most of now' livery -- be a strong contender when it comes to racing.
• He has extensive experience at the picturesque track, with track knowledge from his Formula Ford days proving extremely valuable each time he takes to a round here.
• "I'm really looking forward to this weekend's final round, Phillip Island certainly is a driver's track and is enjoyed by many," said Whincup.
• "If you get the setup right for the races, you can give the car everything you have with the confidence that it will stick cleanly to the track, with the corners opening up onto some pretty fast straights."
• "It tests all your skills as a driver, and is always a great event to be a part of."
• "With a top 10 championship result on the line, I too will be out to 'make the most of now'!" added Whincup.
• The event begins on Friday with an extended practice session, while Saturday will feature Qualifying, the Top 10 Shootout and the opening race (100km).
• The season's 2 final races will be held on Sunday (2 x 140km), and every on-track placing, pit-stop and passing opportunity will be instrumental in deciding the champion for 2006.
• As the new-liveried Falcons prepared to roll into the team transporter today, Craig Lowndes was paid a special visit by the main man of the festive season, with Santa Claus stopping by to talk tactics and work out a way to slow their other red rivals.

PREVIEW - HOLDEN RACING

• REGAINING V8 SUPERCAR CROWN THE ONLY FOCUS FOR HOLDEN AS TITLE COMES DOWN TO PHILLIP ISLAND DECIDER
• Regaining the V8 Supercar Championship Series trophy is the sole focus for Holden as its young star Rick Kelly heads into this weekend's Grand Finale at Phillip Island with a slender seven point margin over Craig Lowndes.
• Despite winning the famed Bathurst 1000 for a record seven straight years up until last year, Holden hasn't won a championship since 2002 when Mark Skaife won for the Holden Racing Team.
• Kelly, who fought back brilliantly in Bahrain after contact at the first corner of the second race spun him down the field, has led the championship since the Symmons Plains round and heads back to familiar territory in the form of the 4.45kilometre Grand Prix circuit.
• It was his Toll HSV Dealer Team's test circuit last year and he and teammate Garth Tander finished second and third there in last year's round.
• However, Kelly believes that all counts for nothing and that this weekend is by far and away the biggest weekend of his V8 Supercar career.
• "By about 5 pm on Sunday, I will be enjoying the best time of my life or the most disappointing," Kelly said.
• "Craig and I go into the final round on an even footing. Essentially, we have to beat each other to grab the trophy. Holden against Ford, head to head. It was the way it was meant to be, and it should be a fair dinkum battle down to the wire.
• "It is great for the series, the fans and the event at Phillip Island. Without a doubt, Craig will be hard to beat there. He goes well at the island. But so do we.
• "Garth and I were both on the podium there last year, and our cars are an improvement over our 2005 machinery. And Phillip Island was our test circuit until this year, so we know the place pretty well.
• "As well, we enjoyed a pace advantage over the Triple Eight cars at Indy, Symmons Plains and Bahrain, which gives us confidence. But whatever the outcome, it has been a good year for our team and me personally.
• "I came into the year with a goal to finish in the top five each round and we have done that in all but two of the rounds.
• "Better still, we have finished on the podium in seven out of 12 rounds. So our average finish per round is slightly better than fourth.
• "I think that even my old Mildura Secondary College teachers would give that a tick! "The job's not done yet, and we won't be changing our strategy of taking it one session at a time. This approach has served us well this season, earning us one title and putting us in with a good chance of another."
• With the Toll HSV Dealer Team clinching the Team's Championship and Ford winning the Manufacturer's Championship in Bahrain, the driver's title remains up for grabs as the crowning glory for either manufacturer.
• Phillip Island will also be the farewell of the VZ Commodore. A chassis platform that began with the introduction of the VT in 1998, the car has proven to be highly successful, helping Holden to a record seven straight Bathurst crowns between 1999 and 2005 and five championships from 1998 to 2002.
• HOLDEN MOTORSPORT QUOTEBOOK
• Garth Tander (No.16 Toll HSV DT Commodore VZ 4th in points)
  "We tested there last year, so we have a fairly reasonable amount of recent data from Phillip Island to look at. Couple that with the fact that our cars have had very good speed in the past three or four rounds, then I am reasonably confident going into Phillip Island. But it is going to be a very intense weekend, obviously, with the championship battle going on. The whole team will be focussed on getting Rick across the line, and while I will have my own races to run on the track, I will be lending all the support I can around the pits to help him bring it home."
• th Todd Kelly (No.22 Holden Racing Team Commodore VZ 7 in points)
  "At the beginning of every season our focus is trying to win the championship, but if there was a championship held over the last five rounds I'd really like our chances! To fight back from being in a pretty ordinary position in the series and on the end of some pretty rotten luck, to now be visiting the podium regularly, I can't help but think what could have been in terms of the championship. Certainly I'll be keeping an eye on what my brother Rick is up to this weekend, but his championship aspirations won't change the way I approach my race weekend."
• th Jason Richards (No.3 Tasman Motorsport Commodore VZ 17 in points)
  "Sometimes it feels like the last round is a dead rubber when you're not in the fight for a championship. Naturally enough, you still want the best result that is possible, but you don't really have to worry about losing points or playing it safe. So you can have a really big go at the round and not really worry about any other circumstances. You're also looking at the round from next year's point of view as well. While it may not have a bearing on 2006, you are still developing with an eye towards 2007."

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