Kelly adopted an early pit stop strategy in the race, opposed to his team-mate Paul Dumbrell who pitted late in order to make up ground from his 29th starting position. After the shuffle of compulsory pit stops, Kelly had pulled his #15 Commodore up to seventh. As the laps counted down he succumbed to a charging Tander, who was making his way through the field after being hit a 10 second penalty for jumping the start. Kelly was sitting in eighth before losing another position to Caruso over the closing laps.

Dumbrell impressed in the race, picking up 10 positions to cross the chequered flag in 19th. He put on a brave face earlier today gearing up in his #16 Autobarn Commodore for the first part of qualifying. An off in the opening session left him out of the remaining of qualifying.

Kelly was able to continue his form from yesterday’s practice sessions in qualifying, placing a time of 1:11.065 in the first stint, which placed him sixth. By the end of the session Kelly’s time was good enough for 13th as the rest of the field settled into the day’s program.

In the second 15 minute session Kelly jumped to the top of the field early on with a lap time of 1:10.3320. He held the number one spot until Toll HRT’s Garth Tander placed a time of 1:09.9191, elevating him to the number one position and putting Kelly back to second. As the clock counted down Kelly looked set to make the final ten minute session, but unfortunately was bumped back to eleventh and marginally missed out on a top ten position.

Toll HRT’s Garth Tander was flawless in qualifying putting his #1 Toll HRT VE Commodore on pole position for the first race. Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup were second and third respectively.

In the race, Jamie Whincup sealed the 2008 Championship, taking out the first race victory. His team-mate Craig Lowndes followed him across the line for a Ford 1-2 with Holden’s Russell Ingall taking third.

The temperature soared in Sydney today, the air temperature reaching 37 degrees with the track temperature in excess of 50 degrees.

The final two 46 lap races will round out the V8 Supercar season tomorrow as the category prepare to say goodbye to the Oran Park circuit and retiring legend, Mark Skaife.

#15 Rick Kelly (Qualifying: 11th, 1:10.3320; Race 1: 9th, 1:11.2972)

“I thought the race was pretty tough. I am still not comfortable back in the new car and I am still not happy with the seating position. Rebuilding a car sometimes those things can take a bit of time to get right and we are still chipping away at that. A bit more comfort would come in handy and I think if I could be a bit smoother and more consistent in the car we should be able to move forward tomorrow.”