Nick Percat drove up the field to a fifth-consecutive top 10 finish for Bendix Racing to put himself fourth in the championship on Saturday at the Australian Grand Prix.
Starting 18th, Car #10 progressed nine spots to ninth in a safety car shortened Race 5 of the Supercars Championship.
The ever consistent form puts Percat P4 in the Drivers’ Championship.
Cameron Hill in the Tyrepower Racing Camaro qualified well in 11th but was caught up in an opening lap tangle which saw the Canberran drop to the back of the pack.
It was an opportunity gone wanting, with Hill demonstrating great car speed in his fight back.
The lengthy safety car period shortened that fight back, though Hill was still able to put a couple of passes on to recover to 15th.
One more race remains for the weekend on Sunday at 10:25am, where Percat will start a strong fourth and Hill in a solid 11th again.
QUOTEBOARD
Nick Percat – Driver of #10:
“It was a good race, obviously wanted to fix my stuff up from qualifying. I made a really good start and passed a couple before Turn 1 — from then on I was trying to keep the nose clean and not get caught up in any crashes. I got lucky down at Turn 3 and picked up a few more and also managed to grab probably two just before the safety car with a couple nice passes. Once I got to 9th I was like ‘I think I’ve had a good run I think it’s time to settle and bring the car home straight’ because we’re off a good spot tomorrow.
“It’s very fun out there. It’s been good because everyone is racing pretty hard but respectful. I think sometimes when you’re out of position people realise you’ve got a fast car so they try and follow you through when you make passes. It’s been really fun; passed a lot of people and the car is pretty clean so it’s been fun.”
Cameron Hill – Driver of #4:
“We were consistent in qualifying with a double P11 which was a decent start to the day. Got off the line and it was eyes forward from there but unfortunately we got half-spun at Turn 3. We pressed on and the car had good speed so we were able to grab a few positions back and got back to P15 which was a good recovery. We’re starting out of P11 again tomorrow so hopefully we can get away well and be ahead of anything that happens and finish the weekend strong.”
