Drivers' Quotebaord: Bathurst qualifying
10 Oct 2014
"It was awesome. The car was phenomenal. We tuned it up over the run and I was pretty happy that we could make the gains that we needed to make. It took a little bit but I think we definitely got on top of it and learnt a few things. To have the outright quali lap record at the moment is pretty cool. It takes a little bit to get me excited but I'm pretty pumped by that. I'm not sure that it's enough, we may see the lap times tumble down tomorrow as the grip gets better and better but I'll take it while it's mine at the moment and we'll keep looking over data and try to tune 'Tallulah' up a little bit more."
"Its pretty exciting for how much we were struggling, it was a good come back.
"The track's only going to get better and better tomorrow.
"No one's really happy with the car yet but up and down pit lane everyone's talking like that. Obviously it was good enough for position two but it doesn't feel nice. We've got a lot of work to do to make it a good race car.
"We had a few issues in the early runs and I didn't get a time down. I just kept making mistakes and it was really hard to drive.
"The sectors were encouraging so I just had to stick at it. I had zero time left in the last part of the session so I had to push to get it. My first lap I just wanted to get one down and bank a lap. "
"What a turn around! Something in the back of my mind said there was something pretty good about the car but we had to calm it down, it was so lively in the rear. We worked bloody hard. I have Chris to thank for this as well. He gave some really great feedback on the car and we calmed it down as we went along. The thing came alive in that last run. It really paid off. I was absolutely loving it. I did that whole last lap with the biggest smile on my face. It's my first shootout tomorrow. I'm going to give it my all and hopefully end up somewhere where we are now. I'm in the shootout - it's awesome!"
"My Pepsi Max Crew Ford was really good on the first outing. We sat for a long time after that initial lap and conditions changed a bit. At the end I was trying to do a good lap but if you crash you're out of the shootout. Tomorrow is when you hang it all out and we are in a good position to have a crack tomorrow. We have a strong package and there were some quick times but if we can tidy things up we'll be in line for a shot at pole. The car is clean and fast and I am looking forward to tomorrow."
"The car was really good in qualifying and I look forward to the shootout. We have definitely got a good chance for tomorrow and the race on Sunday."
"We got through all the difficult corners but just fell off at the chase on the second last run and then slipped off at the last corner on the last run, I couldn't believe it. Both times we were looking for a mid to low two minute 5 second lap but I just couldn't finish the job. Still, it was very satisfying to drive the car, I had lots of pace. It's been a really interesting weekend so far set up wise, we've been scrambling a bit but we seemed to find something that really helped the car and transferred to the other two cars really well. It bodes well for all of us at BJR, we've got quick cars and all the ingredients we need at the moment. We just have to keep doing the right things from here to Sunday night."
"It's pretty awesome, a childhood dream, actually. I've always dreamed of being in the Top 10 Shootout at Bathurst, and now I've done it. The next thing is to win it! After the damage to the car yesterday, to turn it around and pull this off is brilliant. Such a good feeling."
"It's awesome to be in the top 10. That's pretty cool.
"I have to give full credit to the team at Nissan Motorsport. The amount of work that has gone has made a big difference this weekend.
"We've been in and around the top 10 all weekend, both myself and Taz. It was nice to get the job done and make the shoot-out.
"I can't wait to get out on the track tomorrow. I'll have the track all to myself, which will be pretty special.
"We've still got Practice 6 to get through in the morning, so there's a bit for us to get through there. We'll do some work on our race set-up and then have a think about doing some shoot-out stuff. We'll discuss that later tonight."
"Qualifying was a tough session. We probably didn't have the pace that we really needed but we ended up in the top 10 and that was the important thing given the crash yesterday.
"It was the hottest its been in over the last two days during qualifying and the car didn't respond the way we expected, so we need to understand the track a little bit. Even though the shootout's at 5:00 tomorrow it will still be pretty warm.
"It's proven a V8 Supercar can do a mid 2:05 around here so until our car is doing the same, we've got some work to do. We think we've got some things to make our package better and if we do that, then the pace will be there as well."
"It was the toughest top 10 result I've ever had to drive for. We're still searching for the right balance, the car is nice to drive but it's not speedy to drive yet. Everyone else stepped up their game by half a second today and we didn't which shows that we have to take a good look at it overnight. The track conditions changed and we made a decision that didn't go the way we wanted it to but we live to fight another day. We're confident that we can do a better job of it tomorrow, we still have some searching to do but all in all we're happy to be where we are but we've still got more in us."
"Although I am disappointed not to be in the top ten after being there right up to the last moments of qualifying, I am pleased with the way today went and how well Oliver is going. I think we have a strong package for the race and am looking forward to Sunday."
"It's a tough one, a little bit there would have been quite a lot.
"I kept pushing harder and harder each time I went out, and in the places that I had to make up time it was quite hard to wring some more out of it.
"A 2:06.8sec was the best I could do, I had to give it absolutely everything and beyond on that last run, it just got messier and messier, and I ended up still doing a 2:06.8sec.
"Disappointed with where we are at, but I don't know if I could have wrung much more out of it in the end."
"I wanted to get into the shootout which would've been special but unfortunately I tagged the fence in the first outing. That's tweaked something under the car and from then the car was a bit uncoupled and hard to drive. I couldn't get the pace out of it and wasn't quick where I have been all day. We have a straight car and there are a lot of laps. We're starting mid-pack and see what we can do. We'll cruise along and see where we end up."
UPDATE - Mostert will be starting from 26th after exclusion from qualifying.
"Disappointing is the only way for me to sum up our qualifying result today.
"We had a really good shot at getting inside the top 10, but a failure put us on the back foot.
"Car 36 will start the race from 15th, which isn't totally bad, but I guess it's disappointing when I know it could have been so much better.
"The car actually feels quite good, so we'll use the final practice session tomorrow to make sure we have the best race car possible for the 1000km."
"I can't help but be a little bit disappointed by that.
"The track has been changing all weekend, and we haven't been able to keep up with it.
"I feel I got a reasonable lap together there, a 2min06.8, and unfortunately we didn't have enough tyres mounted there to have a run with 10 minutes to go, so we left the run to the end with the green tyres.
"We were hindered by the red flags there, I got a tow up both straights, and unfortunately it wasn't enough.
"We need a little bit more out of the car, it's just little things that cost you, so we're starting back from 16th, and we'll fight from there."
"We struggled to get the new tyres hooked up this afternoon. I thought we were reasonably competitive this morning in the final practice session but we were 2/10ths off that time in our Qualifying run. Even if we found that time we were still going to be 17th.
"We are missing something, and when I am following other cars and try to get a tow they just pull away from me. I think we need a little bit everywhere to just get the extra speed. It is a 6km lap and a bit here and there adds up to a lot on such a long circuit. I'm sure we can move up on Sunday as the car has shown really good speed over the longer runs."
"It was a tough day today. It felt like we had made progress with the Supercheap Auto Commodore overnight, with a positive direction this morning. However, I suffered from an issue in practice five that we hadn't experienced previously - and couldn't get rid of it throughout qualifying. We'll have to look at the data, work out what's going wrong, and get things sorted for Sunday's Great Race."
"It was important for me to do further laps. Unfortunately I didn't get that many laps yesterday, that cost me in qualifying. But I have improved my times the whole day and although I didn't get up to the speed I wanted, the race is long and I look forward to it. I think we are going to have a good race pace."
"The car was pretty reasonable in final practice but came back to that nervous, edgy type of car in Qualifying which makes it difficult across the top. We will have to look again at our set up and focus on the long runs, which we know the car is strong at in the race.
"I feel we should have been in the 2.07s today but we were not quite there. There has been plenty of people do well from all positions on the grid here at Bathurst, so our task is to make the car comfortable and predictable over the distance. If we can do that I'm sure we can get a good result on pay day."
"It was my fault, I've got to put my hand up. I made an error, which I shouldn't have as a professional driver. I was a bit slow in that sector so I was trying to find a few extra tenths of a second and pushed harder and got out of rhythm and the end result was me in the wall. The car was miles better than it was yesterday so it's good to know that at least we're actually in the game for race pace now. Unfortunately we are going to start the biggest race of the year second last but at least I'm injury free. It's been a pretty tough preparation so we've just got to regroup. We're not going to let this affect us, we're going to put our heads down, reset tonight and go again tomorrow."
"It was only my second lap and I was pushing on, I caught a slower car and he let me go. I was a bit compromised with my position and came over the grate and lost the rear. I was a little bit wide and I lost it after that. I think I swore before I hit the fence. I am physically fine, I'm a bit destroyed emotionally and the boys are looking at a pretty bent car. Luckily I have the best crew in Australia and they'll fix it. It's the longest race of the year and there is no reason we can't get a good result. Last year at lap 90 we were last and we drove to fifth so anything is possible."
