Motorsport: Team Kiwi eighth at Sandown

Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore teammates Paul Radisich and Paul Morris recovered from an engine failure in the warmup to finish eighth in the weekend's Sandown 500 V8 Supercar Championship race in Melbourne.

The 161-lap race at Sandown, held in variable weather conditions, was the ninth round of the championship and the first of two successive endurance events, to be followed by the Super Cheap Auto 1000 at Bathurst on October 9.

In the warmup at Sandown, Radisich was forced to stop because of problems with a new-specification engine designed and built at PMM's Gold Coast headquarters.

The crew spent two hours fitting a replacement engine used in previous championship races this year, completing the job just minutes before the race began.

Radisich started from 19th on the grid on a dry track surface.

The New Zealander was 14th when he completed his stint on lap 57 for a pit-stop for fuel, four new tyres, and brake-pad and driver changes.

Morris began his stint in 19th position and improved to eighth by lap 94 when he made a pit-stop for fuel and wet-weather tyres after rain began to fall.

He moved up to sixth, and then made another pit-stop on lap 139 before finally finishing eighth.

The other TKR-Sirromet Wines Holden stopped after 55 laps because of engine problems. Alan Gurr drove the entire stint, with John Faulkner not participating in the race.

Craig Lowndes and Yvan Muller won the event in a Betta Electrical Ford Falcon, followed by Todd Kelly and Mark Skaife in a Holden Racing Team Commodore.

Marcos Ambrose remains championship leader with 1486 points.

Morris and Radisich each scored 164 points for their result at Sandown with Radisich moving to 11th overall and leading New Zealander in the championship.

- NZPA