BARGWANNA ROCKS TO SECOND AFTER SURFERS MINI CHALLENGE

Scott Bargwanna has taken the ROCK Energy Drinks MINI into second placing in the MINI Challenge Series after this weekend’s events at Surfers Paradise, with team-mates Sean Carter and BJ Cook enjoying solid debuts on the Nikon SuperGP circuit and Team Principal, Jason Bargwanna recorded just the second V8 Supercar pole in his career.

Scott took advantage of Title combatant, Grant Denyer having a difficult weekend aboard his DecoRug machine, bringing the ROCK car home in fourth, sixth and fourth in the three races respectively.

Initially, the team were scratching their heads looking for some additional speed from Scott’s machine, however results fell in their favour as the weekend progressed. Scott’s aim was to keep the car off the walls and bank some Series points

BJ Cook had one of his best weekends of the year. He was encouraged by being just 0.4 of a second off the pace of Bargwanna in qualifying. He was as high as fourth during the chaos of race one, however missing a gear dropped the Sydney-sider back to seventh.

During the final race, he had a mechanical problem which led to him clouting the wall. He had been in a superb race-long battle with team-mate Carter. Fortunately for BJ, the tyre wall cushioned much of the impact and he kept his 100 per cent 2009 finishing record in tact.

In a bizarre incident, the action for the Cook began before the team even left the airport. Scott (accidently!) slammed BJ’s hand in the rental car door! The incident had a silver lining, however, with the pain he was in precluding him from going down to second gear for the slower corners on the Surfers circuit. The net result of staying in third gear was a two second per lap gain!

Sean Carter had a superb debut in the category – a first ever national level motor racing event for him – bringing the ROCK Energy Drinks/Plan4Growth MINI home in tenth in his first race run, following that up with a brace of eighths.

The team were stoked with his performance, stressing to him the importance of just gaining experience with the racecar.

The 18-year-old Porsche 944 Series standout’s eyes were like dinner plates after attacking the ripple strips and concrete walls of Surfers Paradise for the first time, both Cook and Carter agreeing that the XXXX chicane curbs in the front wheel drive MINI John Cooper Works Challenge racecar was an interesting challenge!

The round win taken by Paul Stokell saw him stretch his Championship advantage over Bargwanna (unofficially) by an additional 48 points, the gap now 159 points between the two with two events remaining.

Team Principal, Jason Bargwanna took a stunning pole position for Sprint Gas Racing in the second part of the V8 Supercar SuperGP, however suffered from a plug lead coming adrift just after the start of leg one. Recovering to finish ninth, his second leg ended when collected by Jamie Whincup mid-way through the race. Saturday’s event saw Jason finish the legs 11th and 10th respectively.

WHAT THEY SAID:

SCOTT BARGWANNA: "What a weekend! We’re happy to have advanced into second placing in the Series pointscore, however I struggled for pace from the opening practice. We couldn’t get a handle on it through qualifying, but for the races, we were there or thereabouts.

"It’s the first time that I’ve been here in many years, it’s so much fun to drive this track in anything, especially one of these MINI John Cooper Works Challenge racecars. You really have to get the elbows up, I did manage to turn a couple of XXXX signs into XX signs in practice!

"I can’t say enough about Sean and BJ’s performances, they were awesome out there this weekend. Sean did everything we asked of him – basically the deal was, don’t go out there and slam the walls. As John Martin showed, these cars can get away from you very quickly and when they do, they bite.

"Looking at the pointscore, with two rounds to go, mathematically, we have a shot still and will be giving it our best from here on in.

"Next up’s Perth. The racing will be tough with the two driver format and with a few West Aussies looking to impress in front of their home crowd, we’ll be up against it, but don’t count us out yet."

SEAN CARTER: "That was an experience! The guys were fantastic to work with across the weekend and helped me through my lack of knowledge with the car.

"The track was great, the chicane down the back straight was absolutely mega. It takes real commitment.

"I’m just really happy that we could come away from the weekend with three solid finishes and no damage done to the racecar.

"Next up will be Barbagallo, I’m really looking forward to it and building more confidence behind the wheel and get towards the pointy end.

"The Bargwanna guys have been fantastic to me and using Jason’s knowledge of this place helped so much, they were awesome to work with."

BJ COOK: "Well, another character building weekend, but I have managed to keep my 100 per cent finishing record in tact.

"My pace in practice and qualifying was very pleasing, to qualify within half a second of Scott was really encouraging.

"I got up to fourth on the opening lap of race one when Denyer and Seton collided, but missed a gear and dropped back to seventh – that’s all it takes in these cars, the competition is so close.

"In the second race, I was sitting seventh, but missed the restart after the Safety Car period and dropped back to ninth. In the last one, I was holding a solid position, then the pedal went to the floor and I collected the tyre barrier, but I was able to carry on.

"I guess in all, there were a few missed opportunities, but we’ll keep battling on!"

JASON BARGWANNA: "We’re really happy with what the boys achieved this weekend. They all performed very well and did what they had to do.

"I had a chat to Scott beforehand and stressed the importance of concentrating on the Championship points and not taking any major risks. He’s been rewarded with his results.

"Sean did exactly what we asked of him. Basically, the weekend was for him to build experience and we didn’t want to have the car come back on a trailer. He achieved that and should be happy with his performances.

"BJ was great, too. To have a 100 per cent finishing record in MINI Challenge is something he should be happy with and hopefully it will keep going for him throughout the rest of the year.

"From a V8 point of view, what can you say? It was just brilliant to qualify on pole, it’s gutting that everything else turned pear-shaped. On the positive, it really buoys the team for the remainder of the year to go out and chase more results, it really shows we’ve got pace."