Chelsea Angelo has made a successful V8 Supercar debut at the Clipsal 500

Chelsea Angelo has made a succesful V8 Supercar debut after a last-minute deal enabled her to compete in the Dunlop V8 Supercar Series races at last weekend’s Clipsal 500 meeting.

Teaming up with Adelaide-based THR Developments in an ex-Kelly Racing Commodore Angelo acquited herself well, completing all race laps and steadily improving to finsh the weekend with an 18th place finish in race two. Thursday’s practice sessions were the first chance for Chelsea to get acclimatised to the V8 machine, the last minute deal meaning she was unable to test the car beforehand. She drove steadily and rapidly improved her times to finish with 27th and 24th place finishes in the two sessions before qualifying late on Thursday afternoon.

The opening four laps of race one saw Chelsea pass four cars and by lap eight she had moved into the top 20. She was involved in a race long battle with a hard racing pack and moved up and down the order over the final few laps to finish in a very credible 22nd in what was her first ever V8 Supercar start.

A late race safety car turned the race into a one lap dash to the flag and Chelsea was unlucky not to finish higher after gradually upping her pace throughout the race distance.

Saturday’s final race of the weekend saw Chelsea make a fantastic start and move into 18th place on the opening lap but unfortunately a small gearbox-related issue hampered her forward progress.

She managed to hold 18th position until the flag fell to complete her opening weekend in the Dunlop Series with a well-deserved top 20 placing.

“It was a great weekend for me. To make my V8 debut at this very demanding circuit and with no testing prior was a bit daunting but I finished every race lap and learnt heaps,” Chelsea said. “I have to thank all the team at Ozstaff, Wilson Storage who came onboard as a sponsor for the weekend, and especially the team at THR Developments for the opportunity to drive the car.

“It was a fantastic weekend and I’m looking forward to getting back into a V8 Supercar as soon as I can.”