V8 Supercars.com.au (Apr 13, 2003) - Betta Electrical Team Brock lead driver Jason Bright has survived a post-race investigation to shoot to the lead of the V8 Supercar Championship after finishing second in a rain-shortened race at Phillip Island today.

Bright was running in second place when race officials ended the race on lap 54 of 67, following five laps run behind the pace car after a series of incidents on lap 49 resulted from a torrential rain storm hitting the circuit.

Bright was one of many drivers involved in incidents in an eventful period as drivers dove into the pits to change to wet tyres, emerging to find the cold tyres giving little or no grip.

Bright and Marcos Ambrose collided on the run in to turn 12 and Bright said in the post-match press conference that the coming-together, which broke his steering, had been Ambrose’s fault.

“He’s a bloody fool if he was coming across to the pits from outside, and if he wasn’t coming into the pits he’s an even bigger fool than I thought he was,” Jason said, adding that “the car wouldn’t turn left at all” afterwards.

“We were just struggling around but by that point everyone was doing the same.”

Betta Electrical Team Brock teammate Paul Weel had an early problem, forced to pit for new tyres after a dented guard rubbed severely on a tyre.

He had moved to eighth place by the race finish, and now sits in sixth place in the championship standings.

Team Brock gave Bright every chance of winning by holding off their pit stop until the final possible lap of the pit window, one of only two teams able to use their compulsory tyre stop to put wet weather tyres on as the rain began to fall at lap 48.

The contact with Ambrose which damaged Bright’s steering allowed eventual winner Craig Lowndes, also on wets, to take the lead as the safety car was dispatched.

“The guys did a great job today,” Bright said. “We struggled yesterday in practice but we’d sorted a few things out by qualifying and our set-up today was good. My tyres lasted a lot better than I expected and I could have gone on if we hadn’t needed to change and the rain hadn’t come.”