Drivers' Quoteboard: Practice

David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing FPR, p1:

“In Townsville on Sunday we had a pretty good car and we had the proper strategy that HRT (Holden Racing Team) had as well but unfortunately the coil failed and that was the end of my day. So that was a small opportunity that we missed, but who knows mate, we are always trying and always finding things. We are always trying to win races.

“We were 10 laps down in Townsville we knew we would be quick at Queensland Raceway. I am sort of happy because our first set of tyres were meant to be our worst tyres, but they turned out to… you know our old batches were probably our best set of tyres. So it is hard to find consistency with all these amount kilometres, you know when you run them and that. Our second set was meant to be really good but they turned out to be half a second slower than the first, so you know that’s the plan, weirder things have happened.

“I just concentrate on my job this weekend and forget about what’s happening in the background.”

Lee Holdsworth, IRWIN Racing, p2:

“I am confident I can get inside the top 10 (this weekend) and I’ve expected to be there in the last couple of rounds where the team has gained some good speed. The team has put a lot of work in to get us to that point.

“I suppose I just haven’t been able to put it all together and get the right set up for the qualifying. We’ve had good pace in practice and the races but obviously in qualifying it’s so important to start further up and out of all the trouble. I’ve been caught up in that trouble and it’s put us out of races.

“It’s a good start to the weekend but it is only Friday and I’m not getting too excited, although it’s a really positive start for the team to have three Erebus cars in the top four fastest for the day.

“Obviously with not finishing a few races recently we had a pretty good stack of tyres, but I think at the end of the day the guys in the top 10 had pretty good quality tyres today.

“I think as it stands all three Erebus cars were in the top five all day, so that’s not a bad sign. We ran old tyres and we ran newer tyres, and we were up there whether we were on old or new.”

Tim Slade, Heavy Haulage Australia Racing, p3:

“It was a solid day for us, it was just a bit confusing there at the end when we put on new tyres and went three tenths slower. So we have a bit of work to do tonight to work out why that was.

“We’ve been into the top 10 in the last couple of races and I thought this weekend there is no reason why we shouldn’t be again.

“We tested here last week, which was our first proper test day at our proper test track and it was very productive. You never want to predict too much but I thought it would be nice to carry on from where we have been, if not be a little bit higher.”

Maro Engel, SP Tools Racing, p4:

“It’s been a positive day but it’s early days as it’s only Friday.  It’s good to get that experience (on the new tyre) today rather than tomorrow before qualifying and be wondering ‘what does the new tyre do’.”

“The team has done a really good job and I think we are looking at a strong race weekend here. A massive thank you to the team, who have worked so incredibly hard to get us here from where we started the year.”

“It’s not so long ago that we were at Clipsal and we were all at the back of the grid.  We have turned the cars around so thank you to the whole Erebus team and the guys back in Germany at HWA.”

Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, p5:

"It's average tyre Friday; you just don't know what you've got. These tyres have been on all areas of the car, cross-swapped, turned inside out and all sorts. Tomorrow's the test when we're all out there on the same tyres and that's when you know where you stack up.

"Obviously Luke (Youlden) is still getting used to the car. I remember when I drove it for the first time. It felt very foreign and I'm sure he's going through the same. All that aside, he's doing a very solid job. He hasn't put a foot wrong. We don't need to put pressure on him because we believe in him." 

Will Davison, Pepsi Max Crew FPR, p7:

“We ran on softs all day but it was quite frustrating as all the sets were inconsistent which made it hard at times to get a read on the car. It was difficult to learn too much so I don’t think our performance was indicative of where we will be tomorrow. That said, I think we will actually be quite competitive. While our worst tyres on paper gave us the best lap times, we shouldn’t need too much tuning as the car should be quite competitive tomorrow.”

Jason Bright, Team BOC, p8 (via Twitter): 

"Three BJR cars looked like they had good speed today. Hard to know with very limited tyres so time will tell."

Alex Davison, Team JELD-WEN, p9: 

“It was difficult early on as we ran on hard tyres for all but the final part of the second session so obviously we weren’t looking at the timesheets until the end. We struggled a little bit to find a good balance early but luckily we didn’t go too far down the wrong road with set-up. Our soft tyre run at the end gave us an idea of what we need to work on overnight and the extra practice session in the morning will be handy for us to get an idea of how our developments have changed the car.”

Chaz Mostert, Wilson Security DJR, p10:

“We had a good test plan today and the aim was to get a longer run on the soft tyre. The new practice format allowed this however we only had one set of softs where I think a lot of other guys had two. Today was a good day. The track was really different from our test day last week so ending up in the top 10 was very pleasing. 

“Having Dale (Wood) get a good run today was important as we head to the enduros and he did a good job. We are working well together and we are aiming to keep the Wilson Security car as far up the grid as we can.”

Mark Winterbottom, Pepsi Max Crew FPR, p11: 

“The car wasn’t too bad today considering tyres dictated the results. Our overall balance felt good and the grip level improved with each better set of tyres so if that stays the same we should be in pretty good shape. We have to wait for qualifying which will be the first even playing field so that is our first true test of the weekend. Aside from not seeing the true order I am happy with our day overall.”

Alex Premat, Fujitsu Racing GRM, p12:

“Day one has been a really good day. I was sharing the car with Greg Ritter … it was good for him to get a bit of a ride on the Willowbank race track. He did a really good job and was consistent so I’m really looking forward to the endurance races with him. After that we tried to work on our set up for qualifying tomorrow and our race. We didn’t put any new, fresh tyres, we were running with quite old tyres. We finished p12 and the car was quite good. Just looking forward to qualifying and the races.”

James Moffat, Norton Hornets, p14:

“We did most of our running on the hard tyre because our bank of soft tyres isn’t great, and the fact that we have another practice session the morning.

“We tried some things on the hard tyre, and felt like we made progress. When we put the soft tyre on, the balance was reasonably good, but it’s hard to know the tyre condition of the other cars around us. “We’ll get more of an understanding of where we actually sit tomorrow morning.”

James Courtney, Holden Racing Team, p15:

“The biggest problem we have in our Championship is the lack of tyre supply. It makes today and test days very confusing, not only for us as a team but also the fans on the hill. It’s hard to judge exactly where you are and it’s frustrating but it’s the same for everyone.

“We only ran one set of tyres, so I’m pretty happy with where we are and in the shape my Commodore is in. We are a lot better than 15th, it’s definitely not the true pace of our car. Tomorrow when we throw another set on and get closer to the business. I’m sure we’ll be right.”

Scott McLaughlin, Fujitsu Racing GRM, p17:

“Day one here at Ipswich was pretty good. We had two long sessions, a different format, which I enjoyed. Jack jumped into the car for the first 35 minutes and he went really well in the first session but then I jumped in and bolted softs on… We just tuned it from there. 

“Jack jumped in again had a go on softs and he was driving really good. He was pretty pumped with the car and I was pretty pumped. Just give Jack as much experience as we can on softs before we go to Gold Coast because we’re using them there. 

“It was a promising day, we didn’t put our time in at the end because of a red flag, but move on – tomorrow is another day. No points for practice.”  

Russell Ingall, Supercheap Auto Racing, p18:

“Overall, we’ve got a good base set up to work with. It’s hard to tell exactly where we’re at because you don’t know what tyres everyone else was running, but we learned a lot today.

“Some of the changes made the car better through turns one and two while others worked better in the slower corners but we have a good idea of what we need to do tomorrow.”

Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team, p19:

“It’s the usual Friday situation where you don’t know what tyres everyone is on so you don’t have a clear understanding of where you are relative to the opposition. That’s normal for every Friday…

“Today was effectively a test day for us so we were doing a lot of development work with our Commodore. We’ll look at the data overnight, have look at what the others did and apply changes for the morning’s practice. From there we’ll then sharpen the car up for qualifying.”

Craig Lowndes, Red Bull Racing Australia, p20:

“It’s been an interesting day, we actually used three sets of tyres. We used the hard set to begin with, we had two other sets which were soft. We went through our normal program changing things. The car actually changed more in balance in the tyre life, than what it did instead of the car setup. But all in all, not too bad. 

“The car balance in the end wasn’t too bad, we just didn’t have the grip level in the tyre to match it, so we’re not too concerned at this stage, but of course sitting at 20th is never a good feeling. Tomorrow we’ve got an opportunity to make amends for it. The guys at the top of the tree were using brand new sets of tyres, which we will probably opt to tomorrow to see where we are, but other than that I’m pretty happy.

“We were very happy with the cars during last week’s test and on used tyres, we were reasonably happy with the pace today.

“Jamie and I both know this track very well and it’s obviously somewhere I’ve had a great deal of success of late. It’s our home track and it’s somewhere we like to go well. As you’d expect there were a few tweaks here and there but overall we’re reasonably happy and I think we’re in for a good race tomorrow." 

Scott Pye, ekol Racing, p21 (via Twitter): 

“Good day today. Only had one set of softs for car 80 for 2 very long sessions. Ended p3 and p21. Looking forward to tomorrow.”

Rick Kelly, Jack Daniel’s Racing, p22:

"It was a really good opportunity to take some time and think through the changes we implemented on the car properly, rather than just rushing things during a short half an hour session, so it was a great change from that point of view.

"The car handled quite differently when we rolled it out of the truck compared to the other tracks and Queensland Raceway has always been traditionally a little bit different, so it was a good opportunity for us to tune the car to the track.

"The tyres that we were on were very old, we ran one set of hards and one set of softs, and the softs we were on were well and truly past their used by date.

"I could be wrong, but I don't think we're looking that bad and that's the unfortunate thing. We're going to come into qualifying tomorrow and have absolutely no idea of where we are in comparison to the other teams because of the difference in tyre life.

"We'll see where we end up, but we did make changes throughout the day on the softs and continued to go quicker which is rare, so either the car was a long way from the window to start with, or we've made some great progress."

Michael Caruso, Norton Hornets, p23:

“Daniel Gaunt started the session for us, and found that we had an alternator problem.

“Once we got on top of the gremlins, it only left us only with part of a session to go. We missed out on a bit of track time, and our day snowballed from there.

“It’s hard to say where we stand relative to the field. Twenty-third could mean we’re good because our tyres are bad. With another 30-minute practice tomorrow, it will give us a better gauge.

“Everyone will put another set of tyres on and that will give the best indication.”

Todd Kelly, Jack Daniel's Racing, p24:

"It's always hard to know exactly where we sit in relation to the rest of the field, we spent quite a long time early on the hard tyre and I noticed there were few people out on soft tyres at the same time.

“Towards the end and in the second session we ran softs for a fair bit and again we're really not sure what the condition of other peoples tyres were, but we're certainly not where we want to be.

"Hopefully once we get on to the new tyres that might slide us up a bit, but I have no real complaints with the car, so we'll just need to see where we end up."

Tim Blanchard, Wilson Security DJR, p26:

“The car was definitely better than the test day, so it is good to have that step in learning the car. We got the most out of the tyres when they were new but didn’t run as many laps as some of the guys who had two sets of Dunlop Soft’s. Some positives but still some work before qualifying.

“Ash (Walsh) and I had a similar feel for the car and our feedback was almost identical. That is great sign for the endurance races we are driving the car in a similar style and can aim at the direction to improve it.”

Tony D'Alberto, Team HIFLEX, p28:

“It's always hard to tell in the first session, or even day, of a weekend where you sit against the other cars. We knew this was going to be especially hard today as they were a long practice sessions compared to what we’ve been doing this year. And also other teams were running enduro drivers and some full-time drivers and others both drivers, some were running softs and some were running hards. It really was a mixed bag out their today, especially in Practice One.”

Co-drivers

Nick Percat, Holden Racing Team #2:

“For me, today was all about just completing laps and getting my head into gear with the new chassis. I was pretty comfortable being back in GT’s car, it felt like being at home.

“I was really happy with the day overall, going quicker at the end of my stint when the tyres were older and track hotter. That’s a positive. If I can keep improving like that we’ll be in a good position when we get to Sandown.”

Jonny Reid, Team HIFLEX #3:

“It was fantastic to be back in a V8 Supercar; the HIFLEX Commodore really feels strong and cant wait to get more time soon. The more time I get, obviously the better TD and I will be for the enduro rounds later this year.

“Great session to get acquainted to the position and adapt to the car.”

Craig Baird, IRWIN Racing #4:

“Pleasantly surprised actually. I honestly thought we’d struggle on hards to be in the 10, so I think we’ve ended up about seventh and there were a few cars ahead of us, but I thought we were there or thereabouts. I actually enjoyed it, it’s the first time I’ve felt comfortable in the car and that’s just a result of getting a few laps last Tuesday (at the team's test day).” 

Luke Youlden, Lockwood Racing #14:

"Being on soft tyres obviously makes driving the car easier with more grip but it doesn't make it necessarily a faster tyre. It's been a very mixed bag since the start of the year. I definitely think we would have been up there on any tyre anyway.

"The softs do give you more confidence though and I believe that's what it's about. I'd rather do less laps on better tyres than more laps on old tyres. 

"I'm very happy with the car and the team. The guys have made me comfortable and I'm stroking along nicely."

Greg Murphy, Holden Racing Team, #22:

“It’s really difficult for the co-drivers at these events, you don’t get many laps so you feel like you don’t really contribute a hell of a lot – six or eight laps isn’t enough to achieve much for the team.

“But it’s always good to get in the car. Now I’m paired with James I can get in and know things aren’t going to change, so I can get comfortable quickly.

“I got to drive the car later on but the tyres played a big part, you don’t know where you are relative to everyone else because the team can’t afford to give you good tyres as they need them for the main guys. If the tyre situation was right it’d be better.”