Morris in more trouble in first Bahrain round.

By Matthew Agius

Paul Morris has incurred two more penalties at the Bahrain International Circuit this weekend, after incidents in race one ended his chances of claiming a good result.

Morris originally had his qualifying time excluded for allegedly holding up Jason Bargwanna in the combined session. He was then given a pitlane drive-through penalty for an infringement between he, Brad and Andrew Jones. Adjudged the offender in the race one incident, Morris was handed a Pit Lane Penalty - forcing the Team Sirromet Wines driver to the very back of the field.

"I was excluded from qualifying because the officials felt I held up (Jason) Bargwanna when he was on a flying lap," said Morris.

"The Pit Lane Penalty happened after I was passing Andrew Jones (Tasman Motorsports Commodore). Brad Jones turned in and we made contact. He spun and then Andrew and Brad Jones came together. They said it was my fault. I saw the IPO and explained things from my side.

"I ended up dropping a lap because of all the pit-stops. Since I was down the back of the field I made the last stop to change tyres again and keep some good rubber for tomorrow's races. It's very hard on tyres at this track. If you go off the racing line there's no grip."

Morris' teammate for this weekend, Jack Perkins, finished twenty-second in his first solo championship race. The son of Australian Touring Car legend Larry, Jack battled early and was spun around at the start, however soon recovered to take a finish just outside the top twenty.

"I lost some track positions on the first lap after being stuck in the 'freight train' going into Turn One," said Perkins.

"Then I was turned around. I got going again, but it cost me some more places. I did my pit-stop straight after and we changed the two rear tyres. For the rest of the race I tried to be as quick and consistent as possible, but also look after the tyres. The tyres are only good for a few laps here, and then they deteriorate.

"You've got to make the most of what you've got with the tyres - it's the same for everyone. We've been making adjustments to the car and it was good in the race."