David Sieders has battled through terrible track conditions to steer his Australian Industrial Supplies XR8 Ford Ute to its third Pole Position for the 2011 Auto One V8 Ute Series - protected by Armor All today, 19 November 2011.

Marshalled out with the rain falling, the Qualifying session saw two red flags, and was eventually ended with 27-year-old David Sieders, sitting in the number one spot by 16-hundeths of a second, and will see him take home $1000 care of Armor All.
 
"It was always going to be difficult out there with all the rain this morning," said Sieders, "the car has felt really good, and it feels awesome to be on that number one spot for the third time this year".
 
"We've had such a fast car all year, so every time you can start on the front row, let alone Pole, it's a massive credit to the crew and the work they do."
 
After recording the second fastest time in practice yesterday, by one-thousandth of a second from Cameron McConville, Sieders was able to flip the table in the wet, taking Pole position in the raining then slow drying conditions from the V8 Supercar Enduro Driver by 16-hundreths of a second.
 
"We used Practice yesterday to try a few things and lines for the weekend, and were really happy with the pace," said Sieders, "there were a few tramlines drying up before the session was ended, so I dare say if we'd gotten the other seven minutes in, then the times would have dropped dramatically".
 
The track conditions claimed some early victims, with the first Red Flag out when the cars of Jason Gommersall and Ben Dunn were beached at Turn Nine after less than five minutes, and with only nine cars recording a timed lap Sieders set the tone early returning to Pit Lane in the top spot.
 
As the cars waited to resume the session, the clouds parted and the sun came out, which allowed the cars to start drying some sections of track.
 
"Towards the end of the session, there were some 'tram tracks' drying into some of the braking zones, so you could start going a little deeper, but there was no consistency around the track," said Sieders, "the exit at Dandenong Road [Turn 8] was getting fairly dry, but very wet next turn was very wet anyway".
 
As the field started taking advantage of the conditions, where possible, the session was stopped again, and ultimately ended after only 12 minutes of track-time, with Sieders posting his Pole Position lap only 30 seconds earlier.
 
"It was one of those sessions, with the clouds parting halfway through, where whoever crosses the line last would have Pole, and we were lucky to be quickest through with Green Flags this time around."

Sieders' knows he was also quite lucky to secure his third Pole Position for the Season, as one-off entrant, Kris Walton, had recorded the fastest time to the second sector by three-tenths on Sieders' time, but failed to cross the control line prior to the final Red Flag.

"We said we need luck to play our way this weekend, and thankfully it did in Qualifying for once," said Sieders, "I just hope lady luck stays with us for the Races".
 
Sieders' 32 points for Pole has closed the gap slightly to the ENZED Drivers' Championship Leader, Chris Pither, who holds a 40 point advantage, and Ryal Harris' second place ranking is now only 27 points ahead of third placed Sieders.
 
"Coming into this round, there was little we were going to be able to do to move up the Championship, other than bank maximum points and hope Chris [Pither] and Ryal [Harris] finish far enough back to bridge the gaps," said Sieders, "we've banked the maximum in Qualifying, so hopefully we can keep it up, and who knows where we'll be come Sunday afternoon".
 
Race One of the Auto One V8 Ute Series at Sandown starts at 12:05pm today, and will be shown as part of Network Seven's Raceday Extra programme at 2pm.
 
"Wet and dry we've been quick this weekend...bring on the racing."

- ends –

Auto One V8 Ute Series – protected by Armor All
ENZED Drivers’ Championship Top 5.