Colin Sieders' return to racing came to a crashing end on the streets of Townsville, for Round 4 of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series this weekend (9-11th July).
Sieders, who hadn't raced since October last year, due to medical reasons, found himself a victor and victim of an over zealous line-up that included a number of V8 Supercar Championship feeder-teams, and numerous Endurance Round Co-Drivers.
"Coming into this round, we knew being inside the Top 10 was going to be a real challenge due to the influx of entries from the 'Main Game' Supercars," said Sieders, "in the end, it was those same drivers that saw us sitting in 14th after two races, after they kept taking each other out, and gave us a real shot at achieving our Top 10 goals".
"Overall, we had a great outing, and showed constant improvement over the weekend, setting our fastest lap of the weekend in Race 2."
An ominous sign to some, the 28 year-old from Western Sydney, relished finding himself in 13th position in his #13 City of Townsville Falcon in Race 2, after a post-race time penalty was applied to Luke Youlden and promoting him from 14th.
"I was definately in my zone for race starts this weekend, making up three spots by the end of the first lap in Race 2," said Sieders, "I have a real connection to the number 13, so to be promoted to 13th in one of my return races was a nice fit".
"Having starting that race from 19th on the grid, it really shows that we had a real shot at being a serious Top 10 threat," said Sieders, "if not for being turned around in the first race, we genuinely could have started from around 13th, and no doubt would have been racing inside the Top 10".
Despite finishing two laps down in Race 1, Sieders started the final race of the weekend inside the Top 15, based on cumulative points from the round, but suffered a broken steering arm after contact on the first corner of the race, before dropping back to 19th and being punted into the wall four laps later.
"Unfortunately, in the final race, the desperation of some of the guys who should have already been at the front, caused us a bit of damage as they tried to race back through the field on the opening lap," said Sieders, "we only got 4 laps in before we were knocked into the wall and out of the race".
Having spent over a week in the lead-up to the event doing promotional appearances with the team's one-off round sponsors, Sieders was ultimately happy with his return to V8 Supercars.
"This round and return to the driver's seat has been unreal," said Sieders, "whilst it was disappointing not to finish the final race, I just loved being back out there finally".
"We had great local support going into the weekend with our 'City of Townsville' concept, and we've generated a lot of interest to return with a similar concept next year".
"Special thanks has to out again to Zinc 100.3 FM, Townsville RSL, Townsville Chamber of Commerce, Advantage Signs, Business Technology Centre, Coolabah Motel Townsville, Get Branded, JR Air Conditioning, Mad Cow Tavern, Snap on Tools Townsville, Sunferries, Tec-NQ, and Tyre Power Townsville for making this event happen for us."
The Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series now has a 12 and a half week break before it resumes as a support category to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, 7-10 October.
"We have a bit of work to do to get the car straight again, and give a good service before Bathurst, and I'll be looking to finish that weekend around the Top 10, which we showed is a real possiblity, if you can avoid other people's dramas."
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