Full Throttle

The V8 Supercar Series will run in a support race at Albert Park prior to the Australian Grand Prix. After a very sucessful year in 2003 the V8 sedan crowd are ready to kickoff 2004.

Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly have declared the Kmart Racing team genuine contenders for the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship. Murphy and Kelly made their declarations when the team unveiled its striking new look 2004 Kmart Racing Holden VY Commodores at Phillip Island Monday.

?This will be the most competitive V8 season ever ? there’s a lot of quality competition out there ? but Kmart Racing has two serious title contenders in Rick and me,? said Murphy, who was runner-up to Marcos Ambrose in last year’s championship.

?We have never been so well prepared for a season as we are this year; our cars are new, the team is rested and refreshed and, after three months off, we’re ready to go racing again and, hopefully, go one place better in 2004.?

Having last year been denied the opportunity to test by V8 series officials due to complicated ownership issues, Murphy said the granting of a testing log would enable the team to be even more competitive.

?We’re back on a level playing field with everyone else in V8s and that’s only going to add to our competitiveness,? said Murphy.

?We finished last year on a high, winning two of the final five rounds and finishing on the podium at another two, but our pre-season testing has been extremely productive and we’ve been able to find more speed in our Kmart Commodores.?

Twenty-one year old Kelly, who finished eighth in last year’s championship driving one of the older VX Commodores, moves to a brand new VY model for this year’s campaign.

?Just the fact that Greg and I are now driving identical cars as opposed to last year when I was stuck in the older model Commodore means we’re going to be more competitive,? said Kelly.

?The exchange of relevant information will help speed up our development program and only make us faster. Our performance at Bathurst showed how well we work together and it’s only going to benefit our championship hopes.?

The bold new livery, designed by senior Holden designer Justin Thompson and which includes a stronger presence of red with the traditional blue and white colours of the team, reflects Kmart’s continuing commitment as they enter their fourth year of association, along with Castrol and Holden.

?We are all excited about the opportunities the coming season presents and are delighted at the continuing commitment from our commercial partners, Kmart, Castrol and Holden,? said Kmart Racing team manager Rob Crawford.

?We proved our capabilities last year by finish first of the Holden teams with Greg second in driver points and Rick third, while also dominating Bathurst and winning in New Zealand for the third year in a row.

?Last year’s now behind us and we are extremely confident of being able to field two competitive Kmart Commodores at each race for Greg and Rick to challenge for the championship,? he said.

This should be another good season “down under,” unfortunatly those in the US miss the action. Picture NEXTEL Cup cars at Watkins Glen for some idea of the atmosphere of this series.