Rick Kelly was all smiles after a great practice session.
Camera IconRick Kelly was all smiles after a great practice session. Credit: News Corp Australia, Tim Hunter

Supercars: Rick Kelly focused on getting the maximum out of his Nissan

JAMES PHELPSThe Daily Telegraph

RICK Kelly is not thinking about the Supercars championship.

In fact Kelly, the Nissan driver who hung on in Winton last round to score a stunning victory, is not even thinking about race wins.

“We just want to get everything out of the car,’’ Kelly said. “We have good momentum and we just want to get to the end of each weekend knowing we got everything out of the car.’’

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But the Nissan Motorsport top gun could this weekend again put himself among the championship heavyweights after he continued his giant-killing Winton form by claiming second in practice.

Rick Kelly was all smiles after a great practice session.
Camera IconRick Kelly was all smiles after a great practice session. Credit: News Corp Australia, Tim Hunter

Proving his speed in Victoria was no one-off, the V8 veteran was less than a tenth of a second behind practice winner Scott McLaughlin.

Kelly’s time of 1min 6.19sec proved, at the very least, that he has a car that will compete for a qualifying win.

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“I am not out to prove anything at the moment,’’ Kelly said.

“We want to extract everything and if that means the car is only good enough for a fourth here than we will be happy to get fourth. But we are hoping it is better.’’

At the most, Kelly’s practice speed could provide him with the chance to go back-to-back and record consecutive wins, sparking a championship charge.

Kelly is determined to get the best out of his car at Hidden Valley.
Camera IconKelly is determined to get the best out of his car at Hidden Valley. Credit: AAP

Kelly sits in seventh place on the ladder, 484 points off leader McLaughlin (DJR/Team Penske).

“As far as the championship goes I want to move forward,’’ Kelly said.

“I would love to move forward as far as we can get. But I am not too focused on that. I am just focused on going round to round and doing the best job possible.’’

Kelly admitted he may be too far behind to challenge for his second championship. The Victorian driver won his one and only title in 2006 when consistency scored him the crown.

“We might have started our run a little bit late,’’ Kelly said. “We had a little bit of a rough start to the year.’’

Kelly is bracing himself for some pain later in the year with the Altima pilot expecting his car to struggle on some tracks, including Townsville next round.

“There are going to be some rounds that are tough on us,’’ Kelly said. “We know we go OK at Winton and hopefully we will here too based on the last couple of years. But there are other places where we haven’t had a great run like ­Townsville.’’

So while he isn’t thinking about another championship or another race win, Kelly might just find himself challenging for both should he succeed in his mission to be his best.

“We are quite focused on capitalising on the pace at those places where we have got it,’’ Kelly said.

“And improving on it at the places where we haven’t in the past.’’

Kelly said he must improve his Hidden Valley race pace to stand a winning chance in Darwin.

He has concerns about his car’s ability to hold on to a tyre on the rubber-unfriendly track.

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Originally published as Quick Kelly keeps the blinkers on