Jason Bright has driven solidly around a car lacking optimum balance to finish fifth in this afternoon’s 280km race at Queensland Raceway, moving to third in the championship standings after Holden rivals Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly faltered.

But the day ended in an early shower for teammate Paul Weel, who retired on the first lap after losing his clutch pedal.

 Bright, starting from fifth, was briefly running in second behind eventual winner Marcos Ambrose but an unlucky decision to bring Bright in for his compulsory fuel stop just one lap before a safety car was called, pushed him behind Ambrose’s teammate Russell Ingall. A lack of car balance compounded his problems as first Steve Richards then Garth Tander got past him.

 “We probably missed the absolute optimum set-up today,” he said. “Fifth is nothing to be upset about and we’ve actually gained a couple of places via the misfortune of others, but I really didn’t have much chance to move forward with the car I had.

 “We tried a roll centre change mid-race but it didn’t gain much for us – we pretty much knew we were just going to have to try to hold station. After the safety car period towards the end we decided to have a go at Russell (Ingall) and nearly got him, too.”

 Weel, meanwhile, was looking to capitalise on his 11^th place start but as he grabbed a gear to accelerate out of the first turn, the engine spun as the clutch failed to grab and his race race was effectively over as he cruised to a halt on the back straight.

 “I don’t know whether I’ve buzzed the clutch off the start and done some damage – I wouldn’t be surprised,” said a despondent Weel afterwards. “That’s really going to damage our standings in the championship. It’s pretty disappointing when the car was running so well.”

 The results mean Bright is third in championship standings behind Ambrose and Steven Richards, while Weel slips marginally to 11th.