Kellys Focused on Soft Tyre Speed

Jack Daniel's Racing driver Rick Kelly will be focused on improving his speed on the soft tyre when the V8 Supercars take to the track at Queensland Raceway for the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 event this weekend.

Kelly has enjoyed a strong run of results this season on the hard compound tyre, but with the weekend's event set to be an all soft tyre affair, the #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altima driver knows he needs to boost his performance on the sticky rubber.

After a difficult weekend at the Sucrogen Townsville 400 last time out, where soft tyre speed and longevity proved to be a stumbling block, the leading Nissan driver is confident he can overcome the issue and deliver a strong performance this weekend.

"60/60 racing for us is down pat to a certain extent, there's not a lot we can do to alter the result in that one," Rick said.  "We know there is a tight turn around in between races, which is a challenge, but for us the focus for the weekend is on the soft tyre.

"It's the first full soft tyre event in a little while and it's obviously Queensland and Winton that are both soft tyre events (the next two consecutive race meetings) so we're looking to improve our performance on the soft tyre.

"We've got pretty good qualifying speed and race speed on the hard tyre, which has been great, but for me personally I really do need to boost my pace and tyre longevity on the soft tyre, so with the long practice sessions we have on the Friday, that will be my aim."

Teammate Todd Kelly is also looking to move up the order at Queensland Raceway and believes his ability maximise the soft tyre performance will be important across the weekend.

"I'm looking forward to two things this weekend – I really enjoy the shorter 60/60 races because you can get out there and the racing is pretty intense, you don't really need to focus on saving fuel or tyres, you've just got to focus on trying to get in front of the car that's in front of you," Todd said. "It does produce good racing and it is good fun. 

"Secondly, I seem to really enjoy the soft tyre a lot more than the hard, I enjoy racing on it, and even more so qualifying on the soft, and I think a lot of the results I've had this year have been on the soft tyre.

"Certainly I'm looking forward to the weekend and based off those things it should be a good one. The pit stops in an enduro type race certainly knock us around at the moment with the extra hose time, but we won't have that issue in Queensland.

"In saying that, we've always said, the more corners on a track the better, but unfortunately every single corner at Queensland Raceway is followed by a reasonably long straight, so until we get there and have a look at what that means, it's going to be hard to know where we'll end up."

Both drivers see the two 75-minute practice sessions on Friday as an opportunity to focus on soft tyre setup, which will help them across the weekend and throughout the second half of the season.

The V8 Supercars return to 60/60 Super Sprint racing this weekend in Queensland, with one 120km race on Saturday separated by a short 15 minute interval after 60km. Sunday will feature two 100km sprints that will decide Races 23 and 24 of the 2013 V8 Supercars Championship.

After seven events Rick Kelly remains the highest placed Nissan Motorsport driver in the Championship standings and sits in 12th, while Todd Kelly is now 25th.

The Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altima's will take to Queensland Raceway on Friday for practice, before qualifying and racing gets underway on Saturday.

Tickets for the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 are available through Ticketek and fans can also follow via uninterrupted live stream V8 SuperView, which shows Practice Three on Saturday morning as well as qualifying sessions and all three races.