MCNALLY ‘OH SO CLOSE’ TO A PODIUM AT DARWIN
6 July 2008

Glenn McNally proved to be one of the ‘drivers to beat’ at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway today where he was poised for a podium finish when it all turned sour with just three laps remaining in the final race.

After starting fourth in Race 3, Glenn shot into third position from the start line and was pushing his stable-mate, Grant Johnson hard throughout the race for second place.

McNally was aware that a third or fourth place in the final would be enough to score his first podium finish in his short history in the category but was forced to keep pushing by the presence of Kim Jane behind.

It all came adrift on lap nine when Jane forced McNally to cover his line on the straight.

“I had to defend my line by moving to the inside,” he said.

“Unknown to me there was a yellow flag out deep into the braking zone which I could not see because my view was blocked by Johnson’s car ahead.

“As Johnson eased a little to take caution I had no option but to go up the inside as I was already at my braking maximum.

To Johnson’s surprise McNally was up the inside as he turned in and the pair clashed taking both off the track and leaving McNally with broken steering while Johnson rejoined the race.

“I basically had one foot on the podium,” Glenn said.

“I feel really bad for Grant because he runs from the same workshop as me and it cost him points and a podium also.”

Earlier in the reverse-top-16 Race 2 Glenn set up his meeting by starting 6th and finishing 2nd in his best race result to date in the category.

“That’s what we planned to do,” Glenn said.

“We knew that Race 2 was the most important in setting us up for a good result and we were able to push hard and do the job required.”

Glenn is fast becoming one of the recognised names in the competitive category and debuting a new car at a circuit he has never seen before was always going to be a challenge.

After his strongest performance to date Glenn has sent a clear signal that he is here to race up the front.

“The way we progressed this weekend made it an almost perfect weekend.

“It shows that if you do your homework before and throughout a meeting it can help your performance improve immensely.

“I may have to wait for another meeting for my chance at the podium but I can assure you that I will not dwell on the disappointment of today for too long because I have to focus on my next meeting in two weeks.”

Glenn will race at Round 5 of the V8 Utes Series at Queensland Raceway on 19-20 July.

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