JACK DANIEL'S RACING CONFIRMS ENDURANCE DRIVER LINE-UP
Tim Blanchard and David Russell will join regular Jack Daniel's Racing drivers Todd and Rick Kelly for September's Sandown 500 and Australia's Great Race, the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in October.
Blanchard will step aboard the #7 Holden to partner Todd Kelly, with Russell to share the #15 Commodore of Rick Kelly.
Both drivers are already part of the Jack Daniel's Racing endurance fabric, with Russell having co-driven Todd Kelly in 2011, while Blanchard drove the #16 Kelly Racing entry alongside former driver David Reynolds.
Russell currently drives in the Dunlop V8 Series with Kelly Racing's Dreamtime Racing and he stepped aboard the Pepsi Max Crew Commodore in Tasmania to substitute for Greg Murphy, who missed that race with a back injury. Blanchard also races in the Dunlop series as part of MW Motorsport.
Both drivers will take part in the designated co-drivers' only practice session, as well as the next practice on Friday at this weekend's Phillip island 300.
Todd and Rick Kelly will then take over the cars for the final Friday session, ahead of the weekend's practice, qualifying and races at Phillip Island.
TOUGH SUNDAY IN THE WEST FOR JACK DANIEL'S RACING
Jack Daniel's Racing's Rick and Todd Kelly have been tested on a challenging Sunday of V8 Supercar racing at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway.
With two separate 120km races and qualifying sessions for the day, the Jack Daniel's Racing crew had aimed to score results inside the top-10.
Although both Rick and Todd showed pace at times, car balance issues and incidents on the track combined to see the duo finish down the order.
Despite the tough day, Rick Kelly is sitting 10th in the championship with Todd Kelly just two spots further back.
The day's opening race had Rick Kelly fighting with James Moffat early, but a damaged tyre saw him run off the track and slip down the order to finish 20th. Todd Kelly battled ill-handling to finish in 22nd.
The second race of the day appeared positive for Rick Kelly, especially after a Safety Car jumbled the field and he was running as high as fourth. However, balance issues meant high tyre wear and he soon fell down the order before going across a run-off sandtrap after coming together with David Wall. He brought the #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore home in 19th.
RICK KELLY CLAIMS TOP-10 IN PERTH OPENER
Jack Daniel's Racing's Rick Kelly has finished ninth in the opening 50-lap race of the V8 Supercar Championship Trading Post Perth Challenge at Barbagallo Raceway.
Team-mate Todd Kelly brought his Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore home in 21st after battling with damaged steering throughout the second half of the race.
After the wet practice sessions on Friday, today's weather was better, but still damp for qualifying with Todd Kelly posting the 13th fastest time and Rick Kelly 15th.
Sunny skies greeted crews for the race and it wasn't long before the action started at the head of the field. Some quick thinking at the end of the opening lap saw both Jack Daniel's Racing cars miss a collision between Garth Tander and Will Davison.
The duo ran in tandem on the harder Dunlop slick race tyres through the opening half of the race, before Todd Kelly pitted on lap #27 with Rick Kelly one lap later.
After rejoining the circuit Rick Kelly made the most of his soft tyres moving from 16th all the way inside the top-10.
TODD KELLY FASTEST IN FRIDAY PRACTICE IN PERTH
Jack Daniel's Racing's Todd Kelly has set the fastest time on a rain-soaked Barbagallo Raceway outside Perth ahead of this weekend's fourth event of the V8 Supercars Championship.
Sitting inside the top half of the championship, both Todd and Rick Kelly only took to the track for the final two sessions this afternoon.
Todd Kelly was on the pace immediately setting the best time in what was practice #3 for the day with a time of 1:03.8251. That time was not beaten in the fourth and final session of the day as Todd Kelly found it difficult to get a clear run on the Western Australian circuit.
Rick Kelly made a number of set-up changes on his Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore, but although he improved the car for the final session, the conditions meant he was placed 19th overall on the time sheets.
With heavy showers forecast for Saturday, the Jack Daniel's Racing team is looking forward to qualifying and the opening 50-lap race of the weekend.
WET TRACK RACE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA - NO PROBLEM FOR JACK DANIEL'S RACING
Jack Daniel's Racing duo Todd and Rick Kelly won't be disappointed if the skies open this weekend at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway for the fourth event of the V8 Supercars Championship.
The Jack Daniel's Racing Commodores are known as being amongst the best in the wet, including victory for Rick Kelly and third place for Todd Kelly at Hamilton (New Zealand) in 2011.
After a long hot summer, Perth has been hit by a cool change ahead of this weekend's three-race event, with rain predicted throughout the meeting.
Coming off a solid performance 10 days ago in Hamilton, where Rick Kelly scored fifth place in the Saturday race and Todd Kelly finished ninth on Sunday, the team is confident it is headed in the right direction as it arrives in Perth.
The three-race format will see three separate qualifying sessions, including one for hard tyres only. In each race both the hard and soft Dunlop race tyres must be used by all teams. However, if it does rain, racing will be on the grooved wet weather tyres.
