Daryl Beattie to join the V8 Supercar ranks this weekend

Daryl Beattie, runner-up to Mick Doohan in the 500cc motorcycle world championship in 1995, will make his V8 Supercar Championship race debut driving a Holden Commodore in this Sunday's V.I.P. Pet foods Queensland 500.

Beattie is a late entry to drive an Imrie Motorsport Commodore with Christian D'Agostin in the ninth championship round at Queensland Raceway as part of a field spearheaded by Holden Racing Team drivers Mark Skaife and Jason Bright and Ford Falcon stars Marcos Ambrose and Craig Lowndes.

The Imrie Motorsport driver combination for the 161-lap race was announced yesterday by team manager Ryan McLeod just hours after Beattie had his first motor race on four wheels in a Ford AU Ute at Sandown in Melbourne.

Beattie's only previous V8 Supercar driving experience has been 20 test laps in Paul Morris' Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore at Queensland Raceway during the past two months, and a session in the IMS car at Calder Park in Melbourne two weeks ago.

"I haven't spent much time in a V8 Supercar, but everyone has to start somewhere and I'm really excited about it," said Beattie.

"My aim is to get in there and learn as much as possible, stay out of the way of the fast guys in 'traffic', and hopefully keep things together and make it to the finish."

"We won't have the fastest car out there, but that doesn't worry me in the slightest because this is all new to me and I'm trying to get something started for the future."

"It's been a rush getting my licence and everything else organised in such a short time, and I appreciate the guys at Imrie Motorsport for giving me this opportunity."

The 31-year-old Queenslander had three wins and 14 top-three podium finishes in 500cc racing with works Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki teams from 1992 until injuries forced him to retire in 1997, and he is now a motorsports commentator with Network Ten.

He said that he hoped to perform sufficiently well at Queensland Raceway with Commodore Cup winner D'Agostin to secure a drive with IMS in the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 at Bathurst on October 13, and possibly next year's V8 Konica Series, the feeder category to the championship.

"We will see how things go in Queensland and take it from there," said Beattie.

Beattie said his interest in competing in V8 Supercars was fuelled after driving Morris' car for the first time in July, when he clocked a best lap of 1-min 14.26-secs around the 3.1km Queensland Raceway.

When Beattie tested Morris' car for the second time this month he improved his best lap time to 1-min 12.90-secs, which is 1.31-secs outside the quickest lap of the 2001 V.I.P. Pet foods Queensland 500, set by the HRT Commodore driven by Skaife and Bright.

"Straight after I got into Paul's car for the first time I was 'hooked'," said Beattie. "The power and the braking is just awesome and I thought this is something I want to do."

"Since then Paul has been instigating a few things and it went from there to driving the Imrie Motorsports car and now getting the chance to race in Queensland."

Morris, whose endurance team-mate Wayne Wakefield drove the IMS Commodore in selected championship rounds this year, believes Beattie has the talent to make a successful transition from motorcycle racing to competing on four wheels.

"Daryl has heaps of natural talent and importantly he learns fast because he gets quicker every time he gets behind the wheel," said Morris. "The (V.I.P. Pet foods) Queensland 500 will be an eye-opener because racing is different to testing, but Daryl has competed at grand prix level on bikes, so he knows what to do."

Beattie's racing debut at Sandown yesterday ended after four laps of the V8 Brutes event. He drove as team-mate to former rugby league star Jack Elsegood.

"A guy spun a couple of cars ahead of me, and the car in front of me swerved to miss it," said Beattie. "I had nowhere to go and hit the back of him, which punctured the radiator and put us out."

Beattie said driving a V8 Supercar, which weighs 1,350kg and generates 600-horsepower, was considerably different to the 500cc motorcycles he raced (130kg and 200-horsepower).

"You brake later in the V8 and the car carries more corner speed, but the 500 grand prix bike accelerates better," said Beattie.

Beattie's assault on the V.I.P. Pet foods Queensland 500 begins in the opening two practice sessions on Friday.