Kelly gang quick to make point

MICHAEL Caruso and Rick Kelly gave Nissan the finger yesterday, with the dumped duo blitzing the field to score a Supercars practice one-two win at Winton in Victoria.

Just three days after Nissan announced it was axing Kelly Racing at the end of the year, the Nissan Motorsport drivers blazed their way to the top of the time sheets to give the Japanese giant reason for regret.

Caruso celebrated the win by storming into teammate Kelly’s garage and giving him a hand gesture that involved his middle finger.

“Rick and I always have fun,’’ Caruso said. “The signal was just a bit of team banter.’’

Nissan shocked the sport earlier this week when it announced it would quit Supercars at the end of the year, leaving only Holden and Ford to continue the V8 fight.

In a defiant response, Caruso led the charge by pipping Kelly by just 0.016 of a second to claim the practice win. Kelly Racing co-owner Kelly came out guns blazing following Nissan’s decision to end its multimillion-dollar sixyear deal. “It feels great,’’ Kelly said. “But I don’t care much about Fridays. I want to do a good job of Saturday and a great job of Sunday. And then we can head out of here and have a month off to develop the car further.’’

Kelly said his team was on the verge of entering the battle with V8 giants DJR/Team Penske and Red Bull Holden Racing.

“We weren’t happy with Perth,’’ Kelly said. “There had been a few things happen that affected our results. But it is not one thing as to why we are improving. It is a whole lot of things that are clicking.

“The guys have done a great job in developing the car over the last six months and it is starting to work for us.’’

Scott McLaughlin’s run of wins ended with the Ford flyer failing to claim a session win for the first time since Symmons Plains in Tasmania.

He can still create history today by becoming the first driver in 10 years to win five races in a row.