News

Shannons Insurance and Linde Forklifts will back young gun Cameron Waters' debut in the Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series with Kelly Racing at Sandown International Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria this weekend.

Linde is a long-time supporter of Waters and backed him in his title-winning campaign in this year's Australian Formula Ford Championship.

Shannons sponsored the Shannons Supercar Showdown reality television series that saw Waters drive alongside Grant Denyer at this year's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, where the 17-year-old from Mildura became the youngest driver to compete in the Bathurst 1000.

Waters will again drive Kelly Racing's chassis PE047, which he drove at Bathurst as the #77 Shannons/Mars Commodore. Just as at Bathurst, the entry will be overseen by experienced team manager Dean Orr.

The car, the same chassis that Rick Kelly drove to a pole position and race victory in Hamilton, New Zealand this year, will be known as the #77 Shannons/Linde Commodore at Sandown this weekend.

- Pepsi Max Crew driver Greg Murphy continues his charge for a top 10 position at Sandown International Raceway this weekend. Murphy sits 35 points behind 10th placed Fabian Coulthard with two events and four races remaining this season

- Kelly Racing's #11 Pepsi Max Commodore entry is vying for the Most Improved Award in this year's V8 Supercars Championship, currently sitting 13 positions higher in the championship than at the end of last season, equal to Coulthard's #61 entry

- Stratco Racing driver David Reynolds enjoys the Sandown circuit, having driven thousands of laps around the Melbourne venue in driver training activities as well as racing. Reynolds clinched the 2004 Australian Formula Ford Championship at Sandown

- Jack Daniel's Racing driver Rick Kelly sits seventh in the V8 Supercars Championship through a combination of speed and consistency. With two race wins, three podiums and a pole position all to his name this season, Kelly also has 12 top 10 finishes to his name and is one of five drivers to have completed all 24 races so far this season

- After a strong event in Tasmania last week, Todd Kelly is keen to again perform well at Sandown this weekend. The driver of the #7 Jack Daniel's Commodore is a two-time event winner at Sandown and has four event podiums

KELLY RACING QUOTEBOARD

CAMERON WATERS - #77 Shannons/Linde Holden Commodore:

"It's awesome to get back in a Kelly Racing V8 Supercar," said Cameron Waters.

"I'm really looking forward to it. I know the Sandown circuit pretty well. I raced here earlier this year in Formula Ford and was fairly quick so hopefully I can get out there and be reasonably competitive.

"This weekend will be totally different to Bathurst. This event will not be as stressful. I want to go out there and finish all the races and get as many laps as I can. It will be a good chance to see where I'm at in this field and get some more experience in a V8 Supercar.

"This is a one-off deal and I've really got to thank Linde Forklifts and Shannons Insurance for backing me to allow this to happen.

"Linde is a long-time supporter of mine and we won the Australian Formula Ford Championship with them this year and Shannons was behind the TV show and Bathurst entry, so I'm very thankful to both of those companies. I'll be doing my best to represent them well this weekend at Sandown.

"It's great to get more laps in a V8 ahead of next year. Nothing is confirmed for next year but I definitely want to be in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.

"So it's good to get a run in a V8 Supercar and be back with Kelly Racing again. This chance gives me some more seat time in a V8 and a chance to learn more about these cars."

TODD KELLY - Racing Director, Kelly Racing

"The pace that Cam had at Bathurst was a little bit scary," said Todd Kelly.

"He didn't have any fear whatsoever for that joint and even after an incident in the race he got back out and was doing times a good two seconds faster than what Rick and I would have expected him to be doing.

"We didn't really get to see his full potential because when we bolted the car back together after his incident in the race, it was not at its best as the crew worked as quickly as they could to get it going again.

"To give him another crack and to have so much interest around to generate the funding to give him another run at Sandown is fantastic, so we are very thankful for the support of Linde and Shannons.

"We've achieved our goals in that we've raised a lot of awareness in a young, up and coming driver in Cam and given his career a kick start. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he goes because he's done the job in his Formula Ford Championship and now he should hopefully not be too far off the pace in his first round in a Fujitsu Series car.

"Hopefully this will again generate more interest and hopefully we can potentially do something with Cam again for next year."

MARK BEHR - Marketing Manager, Shannons Insurance:

"Shannons Insurance is pleased to continue our support of Cameron Waters as he continues to take the next step in furthering his motorsport career," said Mark Behr.

"As winner of Shannons Supercar Showdown, we were proud of how Cameron represented Shannons in his debut at Bathurst last month.

"On behalf of all motoring enthusiasts and race fans, Shannons wishes Cameron well for this weekend at Sandown."

GREG MURPHY - #11 Pepsi Max Holden Commodore:

"We are still 11th in the championship points so we want to do well this weekend to stay in contention to finish in the top 10," said Greg Murphy.

"We have worked hard this week to try and get better pace from the Pepsi Max Commodore at Sandown this weekend compared to Tassie.

"There's only been a few days between events so we've looked into everything we can for this weekend to perform a bit better.

"Sandown has a couple of big, long drag strips and you need to be fast in a straight line to go well here.

"I'm confident we have the package go well here, but we will need to get everything right and tune the car in the right direction to get the most out of it."

DAVID REYNOLDS - #16 Stratco Holden Commodore:

"It will be good to attack Sandown with a weekend alongside under my belt in Tassie with my new engineer 'Killer' (Peter Craik)," said David Reynolds.

"We've worked hard this week to turn things around from Tassie heading into this event, where we expect to go better in the Stratco Commodore.

"I've put Tassie behind me and I know Sandown very well.

"There are two long straights here, similar to Tassie, so we need to work hard to get good power down onto the long straights and get the most out of our engines."

TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Holden Commodore:

"A lot of the areas on our cars that we have been working on should be relevant to Sandown and help us there," said Todd Kelly.

"I'm quite confident for the challenge that circuit brings. It's also our home track given it's so close to our Kelly Racing workshop so we want to go well there.

"I can't wait to get there. I had a solid weekend in my #7 Jack Daniel's Commodore in Sandown so I'm feeling good about Sandown.

"We've made good improvements in a lot of little areas with the cars and team and now I'm keen to get to Sandown where I think our cars have the potential to be quite good."

RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Holden Commodore:

"Symmons wasn't the best result for me in the #15 Jack Daniel's Commodore," said Rick Kelly.

"We were after two solid top five finishes and we weren't able to get in the top 10. There are two events left in championship and we really want to finish the season on a high, not only for this year but to set the tone for next year as well.

"From Symmons to Sandown you've only got a couple of days to tidy the car up and prepare it for the next race. We had a reasonable result and pace at Sandown last year so we hope to build on that.

"I'm looking forward to Sandown and of course Sydney, where we perform in front of all our friends from Jack Daniel's because the Brown-Forman office is just around the corner from the circuit.

"So the next two events are a good chance for us to move up the order in the championship points with some strong results.

"Symmons was strange in that they it was on the soft tyre, but I remember last year that the soft tyre at Symmons was down to the canvas after about 20 laps. This year it felt like it was a hard tyre with a soft tyre label on it. So that's something I'll be keeping an eye on this weekend at Sandown.

"Sandown is a fun track, it's got long straights like Symmons so you tend to get into the odd drag race down the straights, but it's also got character with the fast section at the end of the back straight and a few other sections.

"I'm determined to be one of the top cars at Sandown this weekend because we really, really want to end 2011 on a good note and see how high we can finish in the championship points."