Drivers' Quoteboard: Race 31

David Reynolds, The Bottle-O FPR, p1:

“A soon as I crossed the line it was a massive relief and I just thought it was cool to have won. It was just awesome as I was spent as I was trying to keep the car off the fence while also manage the gap to second place. Through the last sector it was particularly hard but we managed to bring it home. James (Courtney) was pushing hard and if he hadn’t made that mistake I don’t think I would’ve caught him. He was taking big risks when I wasn’t going to. I had a great day – pole position and my first win. Today is a great achievement and everyone at FPR has brought me to this point so it is a great reward to finally win a race.”

Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, p2:

"P16 to p2, it's not bad is it? Walking home from the track yesterday, I was pretty gutted. I let the team down. I was weak through that back chicane and I needed to find some time and I went about finding it but failed.

"To come back today with a car that's still not perfect after the damage I did and come through to get second is awesome. Luke (Youlden) did an awesome job as did the whole team.

"I had a good battle with Russell Ingall at the end there. He left me a car width's room and no more and was breathing down my neck for the most of it!"

Russell Ingall, Supercheap Auto Racing, p3:

“It was really good fun today; it was competitive, the car was good and when you’ve got someone like (Jamie) Whincup behind you, you know he’s never going to give up. 

“It’s really good to send Ryan (Briscoe) back to America with a surfboard because he did a fantastic job and he’s a class driver. 

“It’s a satisfying day today and I’m happy with two top five finishes for the weekend.”

Jamie Whincup, Red Bull Racing Australia, p4:

“Overall I’m feeling a mix of emotions.

“We lost a few spots there somewhere, the car was reasonable it was really just a matter of who wanted to jump the kerbs the most. I wasn’t prepared to jump as much kerb as most other people.

“The more risk you take, the faster you go, all in all though we came away with some good points so looking forward to Phillip Island in a month’s time.”

Lee Holdsworth, IRWIN Racing, p5:

“It’s a really good finish, we’ve had our best two performances of the season in the endurance races, with fourth at Sandown and now fifth here.

“It’s really pleasing, we’re really starting to find some consistency. The direction we are heading is showing some great promise ahead of where the whole Erebus Motorsport program is going into the future and particularly next year.

“We still need to work on some areas, but I’m really pleased.

“It’s been a fun three endurance events with Bairdo (Craig Baird), we’ve had some fun and it’s been great to get the best results of the year so far with him.”

Rick Kelly, Jack Daniel’s Racing, p6:

"EP (Erik Pender, engineer) and the team really gave me a rocket today and I didn't get enough out of it during qualifying, so I need to put my hand up and say that I didn't take the piss as much as everyone else on the kerbs and that put us back a little bit.

“In the race Karl (Reindler) did a good steady job at the start and as soon as I got in on used tyres we could just truck along so well.

"We pulled away from Lowndes and made some good track position up and we got caught up in the last stint, and with the straight line disadvantage we have, I just couldn't get to the guys in front to be able to pass.

"Really exciting day for us because we had the ability to win, but also a little frustrating because we finished sixth, but one of the best results we've had this year, so I have to be excited."

Craig Lowndes, Red Bull Racing Australia, p8:

“It was one of those days with near misses for everybody.

“With a bit of good fortune and luck we managed to finished strong, get those crucial Championship points and managed to hold on to our lead. 

“To bring home the PIRTEK Enduro Cup is an incredible feeling and full credit to Luffy (Warren Luff) and all of the team for making that happen.” 

Will Davison, Pepsi Max FPR, p9:

“It was looking like we had a great strategy but we ended up further back in the pack than planned so things didn’t quite turn out as planned. This place is never easy and today proved that again. I am genuinely happy for Dave to get his first ever win. Dean (Canto) is a great guy and they have both been close a few times so it’s great they could give the team another win here.” 

Michael Caruso, Norton Hornets, p10: 

“We had fantastic car speed today. We got it up to p3, and when I jumped in the car, the Safety Car came out and ruined our race.

“Our calculations say that we should have been around p5 with a car to attack. But we ended up p12. We picked up a couple for 10th, and I don’t want to sound too down, but I strive to win races, not finish 10th.

“It wasn’t the results we wanted in the endurance races, but at least there’s some consolation with this result.”

Chaz Mostert, Wilson Security DJR, p11:

“I had a quick car towards the end of the race. There was a lot of traffic to clear and I locked up a few times which hurt the tyres. Looking at the results, we were only about 8 seconds behind the leader so we did have a good strong car. We bounced back from a tough Saturday Qualifying and got a good bag of points here this weekend. We definitely have a Top 10 car; we have proved it a number of times, so we just have to work on putting it all together to get those podiums.” 

Alex Davison, JELD-WEN FPR, p13:

“I had a terrible qualifying and when I jumped in the car at lap 40 and we were a fair way back at that point so I had some work to do. It was hard to overtake but once I was in clean air our pace was pretty good and I could also pass a few cars which showed we had pace. A few cars fell out of the way and we got a semi-decent result and scored a few points.”

Tim Blanchard, ADVAM, p16:

“Not as good as yesterday, but we pushed on well. Ash did another great, and long, opening stint and we were in good shape. I think I bent a rim on one of the big kerbs on the last restart and it made the car a handful with a big vibration through the steering wheel. But the car is straight and we have some good points from the weekend. We are getting more competitive at every outing, the last couple of rounds in particular. I am looking forward to Phillip Island later this month.”

Jonathon Webb, Team TEKNO Darrell Lea, p17:

“Qualifying as far back as we did it was always going to be a tough race, Marc (Lieb) got caught up in everyone’s stuff, which is pretty typical when you start that far back, but he pushed on and did a good job. I’m really pleased with everything Marc has done for us over the last three rounds, I wouldn’t change having him for anything. We just haven’t had the car this weekend, and certainly didn’t have the car during the race, and we were so far behind the eight-ball by the time I got in the car that we sat back, and if anyone fell off we’d grab some points, but really that’s as far forward as we were going to go. We’ve only got two more rounds to go, and we’re dropping a bit further behind than I wanted to, but we’ll see what happens at Phillip Island. New surface, new track, so it will be something different. We’ll see what happens there, and then Homebush is usually a good one for us, so hopefully we can grab some points there and finish on a high ”

Mark Winterbottom, Pepsi Max FPR, p18:

“It was a tough day for car five. Richo had some damage in the rear to a couple of components and the crew did a good job to fix it, but we lost two laps so the race became a salvage operation. On our dark day we had good success for Dave and Dean and I am really happy to see them get a win. The great thing about this team is that even when one car has a bad day someone else can get a good result. We leave here 88 points down and while we hoped it would’ve been better we are still well in contention so will keep fighting to the end.”

Tim Slade, Heavy Haulage Australia Racing, p20:

“It wasn’t much fun trying to climb into the car and over everything without knocking things out of place, so it wasn’t ideal!

“The car felt as good as it had felt for the weekend. After we got our lap back we had another problem at the front and lost a whole heap of time. It’s been a pretty average weekend, so we’re looking forward to hopefully turning that around at the next race.

“I have to thank Brabs (David Brabham) for coming in with the late call-up, he had two practice sessions then straight into the race. Also the Heavy Haulage Australia Racing guys and girls who put in the hard yards to repair the car over the weekend again, they all did an awesome job.” 

Tony D’Alberto, Team HIFLEX, p21:

“Absolutely rapt with Saturdays results.

“Good qualy session then my shootout lap was even better, so we had great confidence going into the race. The boys did a great job with strategy over the race, which gave me a great opportunity to come home strong.

“I was pushing hard to catch Frosty. Almost over cooked it with two laps to go, but I wasn’t going to sit back and let a podium opportunity go.

“Sunday was frustrating after such a good Saturday. We just kept having dramas with the car but we fought on and finished to salvage some points.” 

Maro Engel, SP Tools Racing, p22:

“We don’t seem to have luck going our way, I struggled with the car in qualifying this weekend and we had a really strong racecar.

“It is really unfortunate, I feel sorry for the guys. We were looking for a strong finish just on pace, but that is how motorsport is.

“I am really looking forward to going back to Phillip Island, it’s one circuit that isn’t new to me, but the V8 Supercar will be a different beast around there. I cannot wait to go back there.” 

James Moffat, Norton Hornets, DNF: 

“I’m not entirely sure what happened. Either something was breaking or I messed up and broke the front suspension myself.

“It’s disappointing. We had a good finish on the cars, but it didn’t end up that way.

“It was a positive to qualify on the front row. The car had good speed, but it was a good day for the team with Rick (Kelly) and Michael Caruso both in the top 10." 

Shane van Gisbergen, Team TEKNO VIP, DNF:

“Jeroen (Bleekemolen) had really good pace, staying with the guys around him, especially considering the quality of the tyres he was running on. I jumped in, and we had good pace, but I don’t think our strategy was right. Then a guy came out of the pits, and made a mistake. He came and apologised, but unfortunately it ruined our day. I wish it had been the other way around, with a bad result yesterday and a good one today, but we did pretty good yesterday. But unfortunately now we have a rooted car. I like the Phillip Island track, so hopefully we can do well there and put on a good show.”

Todd Kelly, Jack Daniel’s Racing, DNF:

"Very disappointing day for us, that's the second Sunday in a row I haven't even done a lap, so it's frustrating, but a good day for the team with two cars in the top 10.

“We had the same engine drama in car #360 yesterday and today I think the temperatures really made it difficult for us and eventually caused a failure.

"We'll look ahead now and try and finish the season on a high note."