'Tiny' change overturns local hero's fortunes

Hometown hero Bryce Fullwood was beaming a brilliant charge into the Darwin shootout.

Fullwood will start eighth for the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown opener.

It marked a smart turnaround following a trying Friday, which was punctuated by a crash.

Speaking to Supercars.com, Fullwood said it took a tiny change to unlock the speed he needed.

“It’s the smallest change we’ve made all year,” Fullwood said.

“You can go 15mm, 10mm, big changes, have a swing at it, go hard.

“That was a tiny change, and it worked.

“The car wasn’t bad yesterday, but it wasn’t quite there.

“We looked into it overnight, it was helpful to have last night to try and find more speed.

"I’m so stoked for everyone.”

It marked Fullwood’s best qualifying result of 2022, beating his ninth in the Sunday Sydney shootout.

Brad Jones Racing teammate Andre Heimgartner qualified third, having scored provisional pole.

Heimgartner, who is chasing a second career win, will start alongside Shane van Gisbergen.

The Kiwi believes drivers will be forced to conserve tyres given the higher minimum tyre pressure.

“I think we'll have to change rears at least," Heimgartner told Supercars.com.

"There'll be a fair bit of strategy going on, so it's good we're at the front, we can try and dictate that.

"It's still a pretty big unknown, you might see some people do three [tyres].

"You'll gain so much time if you do, but we'll see how it goes."

The 38-lap Race 16 will commence at 3:25pm local time.