Solid start for Sonic

“No damage, good data an encouraging start and an optimistic view of the next round” is what Sonic Motor Racing Services boss Michael Ritter has taken from the first round of the Dunlop Series at The Clipsal 500.

With his drivers Rodney Jane and Garry Jacobson both bringing home straight racecars and some good seat time in the two races from the weekend, the straight-to-the-point Ritter was relatively upbeat in the Clipsal post-mortem.

“You'd always like to do better naturally,” Ritter explains, “but considering the environment and a few other factors the boys did a pretty reasonable job for our first weekend.”

Dunlop Series rookie Jacobson in particular impressed onlookers with a no-nonsense approach on debut that also netted him some sound results and demonstrated the maturity Ritter is relying on.

“He's a smart kid,” Ritter explains, “it would have been easy to go out there and do something silly but that's not his make up. He was solid for most of the weekend, brought the car home and he learned from the experience. That's all you can ask for at a place like Clipsal where you can really pay the price for silly mistakes.”

Jacobson was pleased for the most with his debut.

“I was faster in practice than I was in qualifying which was a bit disappointing, I really didn't take advantage of the new tyres in qualifying and that's something I'll have to learn,” admits the 21 year old Shepparton (VIC) hard charger, “there's many things I'd prefer to have done differently but there's no point beating myself up about it. It was a steep learning curve and we improved with each session.”

Rodney Jane was consistent and still managed to focus on the steering wheel job at hand as he continues to juggle his commitments in the corporate world and the physical and mental demands of racing a V8 Supercar.

“It's remarkable really that he can focus on racing at all,” explains Ritter, “the way he still has to remain committed to his business dealings on race weekends and at the same time get his head around driving these things is a credit to him. I don't know how he does it.”

Jacobson and Jane qualified 16th and 20th respectively in their qualifying session from a field of 30 cars.

Race One was a disaster in many ways when a 'complicated' start concerning the start lights threw everyone into confusion.

“I really didn't know what to do when the start lights came on the way they did,” explains Jacobson, “so I had to err on the side of caution. Rather than jumping on the gas and hoping that I hadn't misunderstood the procedure. I ended up losing several positions as a result but we came back to finish 17th with Rodney doing a good job in 13th. The confusion at the start was pretty disappointing.”

Ritter too was clearly unhappy.

“It was awful, I don't think anyone knew what was going on. It caused a bit of chaos that's for sure. I'm just glad we didn't suffer any damage.”

The final race of the weekend was a 23 lap affair, and with the rising heat on the Adelaide streets it was going to test man and machine – particularly a rookie like Garry Jacobson in the Bob Jane T-Marts Falcon.

“It's a very physical track, and over a longer distance it does take its toll on the car,” Garry concedes, “I was pretty pleased with how we came through to be honest. The car was straight, I was pretty consistent with the lap times and I tried hard to look after my tyres throughout the distance.”

“He did a pretty smart job,” says Ritter, “in the middle there (of the race) he played maybe a too conservative approach with his tyres but that only comes with experience. To finish 13th in his first longer distance race around Clipsal is an impressive result. Everyone's very happy with the weekend as a whole for both Garry and Rodney.”

Jacobson is appreciative, for the opportunity, on a number of levels.

“I'm so grateful to Mick and Maria (Ritter), Rodney (Jane) and all the engineers at Sonic, not to mention the wonderful help I get from Glenn Seton as my mentor. I'm excited about the next round at Barbagallo. I can't wait.”

Ritter too believes that Western Australia presents a new chance to impress.

“We have some new upgrades we've been waiting on that will improve our cars for Barbagallo. I'm looking forward to getting over there with our cars for Round Two.”