24 March 2011
This weekend at Willowbank Raceway, Mildura’s Darren Morgan aims to continue the impressive form that sees his AEG Powertools backed team leading the ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel Championship by 74 points.
Morgan comes into the fifth round of the seven round Championship on a high, having won the previous round at the Perth Motorplex.
The 8,000 horsepower nitro-fuelled machines will tear up the Willowbank Quarter Mile in racing conditions for the first time since last June’s Castrol EDGE Winternationals.
The last time the ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel Championship visited Queensland, competitors got through some qualifying before heavy rain washed the event out – mere days before the devastating floods that engulfed the Ipswich area.
The aim for the weekend is to consolidate the Championship lead and look to extend it over Andrew Cowin. Morgan says it is critical to qualify in the top two, with a smaller than average field on hand for this round.
Coming into the event, crew chief Ben Patterson was pleased with the consistency the AEG Powertools machine displayed in Perth and he hopes that will translate to the sometimes fickle Willowbank layout.
With weather predictions showing cool night temperatures, but hot days and low relative humidity, the expectation is that all competitors will get down the track well.
Fans will see the striking orange AEG Powertools machine in action this weekend – arguably one of the best presented race cars in any form of motorsport in Australia.
The team arrives in Queensland fresh from spreading the ANDRA Pro Series message to a crowd in excess of 270,000 at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide last weekend. The twice daily start-ups drew a huge crowd every time and its safe to say that DMR made an impact in Adelaide!
The ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel Championship will fire into life on Friday night for Qualifying at 5:30pm, 7:30pm and 9:30pm, with Saturday’s eliminations at 5:00pm, 7:10pm and 9:10pm.
Darren Morgan Racing receives excellent support from its suite of corporate partners on the ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel tour, including AEG Powertools, Shannons Insurance, Hungry Jacks, Mildura and Kennards Hire.
QUOTES
Darren Morgan – Driver – AEG Powertools, Darren Morgan Racing Top Fuel Dragster:
“We’ve had a great run this season so far and hope that can continue this weekend,” said Morgan. “Consistency is something we’ve been chasing all along and it seems like we’re getting there, Perth was one of the most consistent race meetings we’ve pieced together.
“We’re really pleased to be coming back to Queensland and we want to put on an awesome show for the people of Ipswich – who have been through so much of recent times.
“The ANDRA Pro Series Championship battle between myself and Andrew is reaching new heights and there aren’t that many rounds to go. They’ve got a great operation there, but we aren’t going to let our guard down and will be doing everything in our power to get to the end of that strip quicker than them and everyone else.
“Our team is honoured to have AEG Powertools on board – they have given us awesome support and being back in the bright orange car for the first time in a while this weekend will be pretty cool.”