Successful maiden voyage for Iceman

AFTER a successful debut at Philip Island in the last event of the 2006 series, and with their first test under their belt, Damien White and his SelecTV Commodore went to Adelaide confident he could threaten the podium.

That said, with the addition of an SBR entry, a couple from Greg Murphy Racing and some other fast jiggers White and his team knew it was going to be tough.

Practice Round 1 ran well and White ended up in 4th slot.

For Practice Round 2 White ended up going the wrong way with the car and had no gain from greens and finished 13th.

The car was definitely improved for Qualifying, however when all was said and done, White was sitting on 9th.

White had his fastest first sector on the final lap, and then made a mistake in turn 8 and was held up on final sector.

White said he was confident heading into Race 1.

"I have improved my fitness massively in the off season, and I know I can race well," White said.

"By the end of lap 1 I was running 7th and then on lap 2 I made a move on turn 4.

"I made contact with another car and was immediately given a drive through penalty which dropped me to 21st.

"I managed to get into 4th by the last lap, but with a fuel surge and a quick flick to the reserves we lost a spot.

"To finish 5th in such a hot race and with my early stuff-up was not only pleasing but made me appreciate again one of the reasons we do this.

"It was AWESOME fun!! "

Race 2 was another tough onefor White.

Starting in position 5 on the grid, White made an early move in lap 1 passing Wood to take 4th, going into turn9.

White then set himself to hunting down Webb in his "straight line steam train" and eventually nailed the move, again at turn 9.

In the next few laps White reeled in D'Alberto who was running 2nd, but in doing so fried the rear tyres, eventually falling back to Webb.

An awesome dual for 3rd spot then followed with Webb and White swapping position a couple of times.

White held on and achieved his first podium result in only his second crack at it.