Holden rules on Gold Coast

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Oct 30, 2001

They aren't part of the Shell Touring car series but the Indy support races are still important to the V8 Supercar teams. This is a chance to strut their stuff before a large audience that contains a number of fans new to motor sport. They are attracted by the glitz and glamour of the event and the hope is that some will become V8 Supercar fans after seeing and hearing them in the flesh.

Of course the sponsors like to see their cars paraded in front of large crowds, and the American CART race draws the second biggest crowd of any motor sport event in Australia. This year the event set a world record for crowd attendance at any CART race. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said the race attracted 286,610 people, making it the most successful Indy ever. Mr Beattie said an estimated 700 million people in 195 countries watched the race on television.

While many of the leading teams used their second or back up cars for this weekends racing at the Honda Indy 300, the smaller teams faced a difficult choice. OzEmail Racing ran the same OzEmail Falcon that finished second at Bathurst’s V8 Supercar 1000. Brad Jones and brother Kim believe that they must maintain the momentum that they built up over the past two weeks. "We have had a fantastic result at Bathurst and have just re-signed OzEmail for another two years plus the fact that Ford Racing have increased their support to our team, we didn’t want to go backwards this weekend by running an inferior car’, said Brad Jones. "The Surfers Paradise street circuit is tight and not at all forgiving. If you get off line, it generally means a visit to the panel beater but that’s the fun of street races. It’s a great event and I’m looking forward to being a part of it", Brad added. With the next round of the Shell Championship Series at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand in 2 week's time, there is a tight schedule to get the V8 Supercar team transporters (minus the prime movers) shipped to Auckland immediately after the completion of Indy carnival.

Knowing that their championship car must be shipped to New Zealand in whatever condition it finishes the race, Kim Jones said before the race meeting "I think we owe it to our fans and our sponsors to give Indy the best shot we can by putting our best equipment

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