March 16, 2004
The 2004 Australian Grand Prix is in the books, and MMC BMW walked away both elated and disappointed. A superb drive from championship hopeful, Paul Sleight, gave the team its best finish in team history. 2nd place from pole position is not a bad result. Speaking of bad results though, Sleight's teammate, McConkey, had a very dismal race on sunday. Starting 4th on the grid, McConkey didn't feel so great about the race, but knew he would have to push hard. He gave his best, but the laptimes where just not the same as they were during qualifying.

Ryan McConkey - "My race wasn't that great, in fact, it wasn't fun for me at all. Our setup was fine during qualifying, and the tires were working great, but the race was another story. I was pushing the entire time and the laptimes where just not there for me. I feel bad to let the team down and not score any points in my first race of the season. I look forward to the races ahead though to perhaps, redeem myself. I'd like to congratulate my teammate on a great drive, I am really proud of him and how well he went today really surprised me. Overall, I'm still feeling good about this season, even though it has gotten off to a rocky start for me. Hopefully, things will be better for me at Malaysia."

Paul Sleight - "Not a bad start to the season! My pole position was a great suprise but I knew the race would be a more difficult affair. I struggled slightly with the tyres and the laptimes faded away as the stint went along. I'm a bit disappointed not to win the race, but Whiteman drove a great race and was able to lap slightly more consistently than me. I think my team-mate had even worse problems with the tyres and this is shown in his final position. I hope for me this is the trend for the season, but I doubt, however, that it will be."

Kieran Ryan - "Paul did a fantastic job. I'm sure people thought he was lighter then he was but he proved he had pace aswell as skill. It's a good start for a relativly new team and a real motivator. Ryan just had some traffic issues and the car was a little difficult during the race but he should be back on form in Malaysia. The team too did a great job, setups and pit stop wise. I look forward to Malaysia."