Bright: Tyre Management Wins Here

While Team BOC’s Jason Bright managed todial in the top time for Race 11, putting him on ARMOR ALL pole position, the secondqualifying session didn’t go as well.

But it wasn’t tyres that held him back– it was a broken gearstick.

Bright says it will be difficult startingfrom 12th in the second of the day’s races.

“But when you’ve got car speed and tyrelife, we’ll work our way up,” he said after the back to back qualifyingsessions.

“I’ll be disappointed if we couldn’t workour way up to top six after yesterday’s race.

“At the moment we’re getting better everyrace so we’ll do the best we can to work our way up.

“Looking at the graphs yesterday, everyonefrom about six places back is struggling with tyre life more than us.”

Will there be stops in the 100km races– absolutely, according to Bright, who sits fourth in the Championship.

“It’s looking likely everyone will stop.I’ll be surprised if someone tries to make it all the way – but strangerthings have happened.

“We’ll play it by ear – it depends on safetycars a little bit but I think you’ll see a lot of people pitting.”

Another factor is the weather – when thesun hits the track it has a negative impact.

“I think the sun will be on the track againwhen we’re back out there racing and that will make a huge difference to thepace around here and the tyre life,” Bright explained.

“So we have to try and manage the tyresbetter than everyone – that’s what wins races here.”

While the second of the two qualifyingsessions didn’t got Bright’s way, the first session means a promising start forthe first of the afternoon’s races, kicking off at 12.05pm local time.

“We were in the mix after the first set oftyres," Bright said. 

“I knew there was more in it, I didn’t feelas though I’d gotten the best out of the first set of tyres. I knew it would bea good lap – we were doing it pretty smart.

“After the one lap I backed it off becauseI was pretty confident. The second lap I took my time to get the tyretemperature up and concentrate on doing that one lap. It seemed to work.

“The second qualifying, I went out and gota banker in case a red flag came out, and out of turn one the gearstick broke,so I didn’t get a really good shot at that.

“I’m just happy we still ended up 12th, Ithought we could’ve ended up 18th or 20th.

“The car’s got speed, we’re going to haveto work through a few guys in that second race; hopefully can do well in thefirst race.”

Bright finished fourth in yesterday’s 60/60race.