Drivers' Quoteboard: Race 34
Jamie Whincup, Red Bull Racing Australia, p1:
“I knew Craig was quick, that’s why I bolted off the grid and went as fast as I could. I knew I needed a good 4-5 seconds up the road to have any chance and I had that for that first half.
“I heard Craig was in second and thought at the time I was in for a pretty good shot but true to my good old Phillip Island bad luck, we had a safety car and at the end of the day the quickest car won and that’s what it’s all about.”
Mark Winterbottom, Pepsi Max Crew FPR, p2:
“Coming here I was quite nervous given the new track surface and I was comparing it to Texas where we struggled a bit. But when you qualify on pole twice and third I thought we would’ve come away with more points than we did. We have a quick car and if we use that to get good track position at Homebush we can keep clear of the trouble behind. There was a lot of contact out there so thankfully the car finished okay and we came away from the weekend with some good points. I am going to have a big crack at Homebush and just go hard. At 124 points back it will be the least amount of pressure I’ve ever had heading into the title decider so we will see what comes out of it.”
Craig Lowndes, Red Bull Racing Australia, p3:
“I think that what went on going down in to Turn One was quite incredible with it being four cars wide. Something was going to have to give and luckily we learnt from yesterday and managed to stay out of trouble.
“Once the car settled in it was really good, really quick and of course we were worried about tyre wear. No one had done more than 14 laps around here so 28 was always going to be a challenge.
“The safety car helped me enormously. I wasn’t going to be able to catch Jamie without it I’d almost conceded to being second until that came out. With the restart the car remained good and we pushed on and we were able to find our way past Jamie which gave us some room and from that point we did some consistent laps which was luckily good enough for the win.
“This track is a driver’s track. It’s a great circuit for high speed, stability and drivers that want to have a crack at it.”
Jason Bright, Team BOC, p4:
"My start was good in the second race. Jamie only got me around the outside of Turn One because he was on a mission and I was happy to have a clean start. It was brilliant to watch him. He went around my outside at Turn One, past Frosty at Turn Two and Craig on the exit. He was in the lead by Turn Three. It was very impressive.
"I got passed by Shane van Gisbergen but managed to get him back at Turn One and I was pretty happy with that. You don't get to do that every day so I had some good racing this weekend. I had a good battle with Garth through the Hayshed as well. I reckon they were two of the best moves I ever made.
"In the first race I just mucked up the start, which put us back in the crap. We were in the outside lane all the way through Turn One but still in fourth or fifth. Then all the bumping started and the cars in the outside lane got tangled up and I lost a heap of positions.
"Then I locked up going into Turn Two. It took me by surprise and I couldn't get the wheels spinning again. The tyre wasn't flat spotted; I couldn't' see a mark on it so it was a really weird lock-up. I don't know what happened."
Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, p5:
"Brighty and I both struggled off the start in today's first race. My car bogged. I think we've got a little bit of a mapping drama because the same thing happened in the second race. The engine had a little cough and you can't afford to be off the throttle when other people are right up it.
"It would have been nice to lead into the first corner but it's good that we have areas to improve. It's not like we don't know what they are!
"I saw the opportunity coming with Shane and Will. Shane had a bit of an over-steer moment, which allowed Will to get up alongside. I had great momentum so I pulled to the inside because I had such a good run. It was nice to pass two people in the one corner."
Will Davison, Pepsi Max Crew FPR, p6:
“I had two good races today and I enjoyed them but the damage was done in qualifying. We only got on the right track with setup after qualifying and we should’ve perhaps changed direction earlier but we persevered with things through Friday and Saturday when we were nowhere. We went from 13th to eighth and 10th to sixth and while I enjoyed the races it was a pretty disastrous weekend for my championship. I head to Homebush which is a track I love with a mathematical chance of the title. I think we will see more fireworks between the front guys. Hopefully I can just be out in front and you never know what is going to happen.”
James Moffat, Norton Hornets, p7:
"It has been a really tough weekend, but finishing seventh in the final race is a positive.
“We only really got the car right today. Getting pushed off during the first race was a shambles, and I felt that starting from 13th with a good car, we should be able to capitalize on it, which we did.
“I was working really well with Caruso in the last race, and we were working towards a double top 10 result, so it was a shame that he didn’t finish that one.”
Rick Kelly, Jack Daniel’s Racing, p8:
"It's very easy for us to get swallowed up the straights and it's quite obvious at this track, but I really enjoyed the weekend and there are a lot of cars behind us that have more pace, so I have to be satisfied with that.
"We had all four cars in the top 12 or 13 for the whole race apart from the end, so I feel for Caruso because he got himself into seventh and that was very impressive.
"It's a tough one, every safety car it was very easy for us to slip backwards and we managed to stay there, so I'm happy with that and excited to go to the last round and try and get a couple of top 10s in the longer hotter races."
Alex Davison, Team JELD-WEN, p9:
“In the first race I had a good run and had enough pace to run at the front. In the last race we started further back but made some big changes to the car before it and the car felt quite good early but we battled oversteer. I was super-loose which made it tough but I hung with the pack and when they tangled I nipped through and made up a few spots. I would’ve liked a bit more pace but all-in-all it was a pretty good weekend. We had our first podium of the year and two other top 10 finishes so we will be trying to keep that trend going in Sydney.”
Shane van Gisbergen, Team TEKNO VIP, p10:
“The first race was pretty good – I’m stoked to get a podium. It was pretty crazy out there! We didn’t really have much pace, but had a really good run in the first few laps, and that set us up for a good result. In the second race we were pretty settled in fifth, but after the safety car restarts I had no grip both times, and then got escorted off the road by Moffat. I passed two cars after that, tenth for race and sixth for weekend, so that’s not too bad. I really had to battle for that podium today, had some issues for the car, so I’m pretty pleased with that.”
Scott McLaughlin, Fujitsu Racing GRM, p11:
“Day three here at Phillip Island, the last day. It was pretty good for us – the races were. In the morning qualifying just didn’t go our way, just didn’t get a good run. I stuffed up and we stuffed up in setup so it just wasn’t right. But come races the thing was a jet, so really happy. We moved up a few spots in Race 33, but we we had a bit of a moment through Hayshed with Lee Holdsworth, we had a really good battle there but ended up going off the track and just being able to save it. That was pretty tight. Ended up 19th in that one.
"Had a really good race in the last race, finished p11 from 21. Big drive from me and good job for the boys for giving me an awesome car in the races. Just wish we’d qualified further up because I think we could have shook a few cages at the front there.
"All in all a pretty crazy race. Sad not to have Alex here… he’ll be back next round and the boys will get it all fixed up.
“Good job everyone and looking forward to Homebush.”
David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing, p12:
“After my dramas yesterday I broke something in the front end and we didn’t solve the problem until before the final race which obviously didn’t help our pace in the first race. It was fixed and we had a quick car in the final race but like the whole weekend there was plenty of action and we got caught up as well.”
Todd Kelly, Jack Daniel’s Racing, p13:
"That was one of the most frustrating races I've had, the car was better, we made a few improvements from the first race today and it had less understeer and looked after its tyres better.
"There are about four or five cars in front of me who probably shouldn't have been if all things were equal. Coming onto the straight four or five car lengths behind, they'd end up in front by turn one, so it was frustrating.
"When we get that straight line pace sorted they're going to be good cars round here."
Scott Pye, Sargent Security Racing, p14:
“Well that sums up my luck. P7 in qualifying. Problem with the starter motor so had to start from pit.”
Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team, p15:
“It was one of those races where every time I zigged, I should have zagged; so it was a tough way to end the weekend after such a great day yesterday.
“On the positive side, our car speed yesterday was very encouraging and we’ve had a very good run on street circuits, so I’m looking forward to the Sydney 500 in two weeks.”
Tim Blanchard, Wilson Security Racing DJR, p16:
“Some good, solid results and a good batch of points this weekend. The first race was good after not being that great in Qualifying. I picked up six spots moving up to 12th. The final race was frustrating as we had some good pace but some of the guys decided it was easier to push you off the track rather than race you. We lost a few spots but ended back up at 16th. We have really made great progress with the car and I feel I am getting more out of it now, so I am really looking forward to Homebush in a few weeks.”
Maro Engel, SP Tools Racing, p19 (via Twitter):
“Not the weekend we were expecting but at least we finished all races. We'll regroup and make sure we have a strong run in Sydney.”
Tim Slade, Heavy Haulage Australia Racing, p20 (via Twitter):
“Quicker I forget about this weekend the better! Splitter dramas in every outing was verrrryy frustrating for myself & the entire #47 crew...”
Michael Caruso, Norton Hornets, DNF:
"We qualified brilliantly today, considering where the Nissan Altima (is) at this stage of our development.
“To get the car up to eighth in qualifying was great.
“But when you’re running in and around the top 10 and you have two of the same engine problems … it kind of sums up our year.
“That’s eight or nine DNFs for this year, and that’s why we’re so far down in the championship.
“Ultimately, it’s probably going to come back to being a development year.”
Chaz Mostert, Wilson Security DJR, DNF:
“I’m not too sure what happened at the hairpin in Race 2. I was battling Reynolds and got turned around. It is a very hard track to pass and you see guys running down the middle of the track into Honda and MG, so it seems where you qualify is about where you finish. It’s the way racing goes some days so we need to bounce back at Homebush and target the Top 15 in the Championship. ”
Jonathon Webb, TEKNO Team Darrell Lea, DNF:
“We haven’t had heaps of pace all weekend, but having said that, I’m trying to bring it home and have a straight car. Again, we didn’t really have the speed, but we were cruising around and would have gained a few positions due to the carnage out there. Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance, with the wheel departing Holdsworth’s car. I was watching for the car, and missed it, but wasn’t expecting a wheel to come flying at me! I clobbered it with a fair bit of speed, and that was the end of our race. I’m still not 100 per cent sure what’s going on with that vibration, which is very strong through the front of the car. We think it’s aero or something like that, but we’re not 100 per cent sure. It obviously upsets the balance of the car a bit, and is distracting me from what I need to focus on. I’m looking forward to going to Sydney; it’s the last one, and a chance to finish the season right – which hasn’t gone how we intended it to.”
Tony D’Alberto, Team HIFLEX, DNF:
“Not too much we to say really, disaster day for us. Ignition lead issues all day. Really unfortunate and it looks like our bad luck with mechanical issues are back to haunt us. We had a good Friday and a decent Saturday so we can take some positives away from this weekend.
“Looking forward to the Sydney 500 now. I really enjoy that circuit and have had good results there in the past. I know the team has had a long year with continuous mechanical issues and we will be looking to make one last big impact on the season.”
Lee Holdsworth, IRWIN Racing, DNF:
“We sort of didn’t have a handle of the car from day dot here and started to get a handle of it in the last race. Had really good speed it was difficult to pass around this place, especially when the car is so aero reliant – ours probably more so than a lot around us, so it was difficult to get around the traffic after what wasn’t a great qualifying.
“But in the last race we actually had really good front grip, a good car, a really competitive car and were moving up the field, I think 19th or 18th and it was all looking pretty good but we had the wheel come off.
“It was no fault of the team just a spindle snapped off, took a wheel nut with it. It happened at the hayshed, which happens to be one of the fastest parts of the track.
“But look, there is a positive at the end of the day and that’s we improved the car and we know what we did to fix it so if we ever had that problem again we know what to do.”
From the Teams
Tim Edwards, team principal FPR:
“We’ve come out of the weekend still in with a chance of the title but our performances weren’t as strong as we had expected. The new surface and a lot of aggressive racing threw up a lot of different things but we made the most of what we had. Mark needs to be aggressive and score as many points as possible in Homebush but we’ve had a good run there in recent years so we are a genuine chance. Alex had a very strong weekend and Will certainly recovered well today but things were tough for Dave. We’ll do all we can between now and Homebush to give ourselves the best chance at the title.”
