Drivers' Quoteboard: SKYCITY Triple Crown practice

Shane van Gisbergen, Team TEKNO VIP Petfoods, p1:"We struggled at Perth so we wanted to put our best foot forward here on the Friday. We didn't test between the rounds, so we really needed to get some confidence back in our car."

Jamie Whincup, Red Bull Racing Australia, p2:"The 20 minute sessions aren't long enough to get warm, so we're ok with the heat. The car's reasonable, but we've got a fair bit of work to do.

"There aren't enough tyres for the weekend - we're doing five stints with four sets. For some reason we've got fewer tyres than we should. Ideally I'd like to go six so that if you've got a late-race safety car, you've got that joker set everyone can throw on and come barreling through. It's worked really well in the past.

"We had a big program today after our test day, but there are a lot of questions marks still there with the car, but we're happy after Friday. It's been a crazy start to the year, it was pretty full on, so it was great to have these extra few weeks in the middle to recharge the batteries."

Rick Kelly, Jack Daniel's Racing, p4:

"It's not too bad some of the time, and it's a little bit horrid at other times, and everyone out there is struggling from the same thing.

"The Darwin track is a very slippery one, and all of the corner exits either have a painted white line, or a little bit of concrete on the back of the kerb, which offers a lot more grip than the track itself.You're really just juggling the car until you get to those areas, when you can stand on the throttle.

"I don't think we're faring too bad, we didn't make any excursions into the outfield when a lot of other people did.We were just trying to get to grips with the lack of grip so to speak.

"All four Nissans tried a lot of things, which is really good.

"All in all we seem to have a bit of strength, depending on what tyre we're on.I'm excited by that, we changed a few things in the car setup wise and ergonomically at the recent test day, and they seemed to work really well.

"I'm a lot more comfortable in the car than I have been in the past, and for me that has produced a little bit better driving.

"I'm pretty happy with that, and we've just got to see where we are in qualifying compared to everyone else."

Todd Kelly, Jack Daniel's Racing, p9:

"It's a little bit up and down, it's really tyre dependent, so it's hard to know exactly where we are because everyone is on different tyres.Obviously we'll be a lot wiser after qualifying tomorrow.

"The car definitely has its strong points, I quite enjoyed the soft tyre around here, but not so much the hards.

"We've got a bit of work to do on that and see where it puts us."

Craig Lowndes, Red Bull Racing Australia, p11:

"Practice today was really good. I think that we got a good handle on the soft tyre. We had a 16-lap run, which has given us some good information for tomorrow and onwards. I think that we've got our heads around the hard tyre although we obviously still need to work on it a little bit more. We didn't get the best out of our hard tyre run, we got caught up in a little bit of traffic, but in saying that the car felt really good. We're excited about bouncing back. This morning it wasn't so pretty and I think the guys did a great job getting turned around for the limited time we had on track."

Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, p12:

"The car rolled out ok. I was pretty happy with it this morning and then obviously as the day has got hotter we've got a bit slower.

"I don't feel like I really know where we stack up with different people running softs and different people running hards. Tomorrow when everyone's running hards we'll know where we stack up.

"In the last session we suffered with a couple of things, which doesn't really give us a fair read about where we are. We'll just have to wait until tomorrow."

Mark Winterbottom, Ford Pepsi Max Crew, p13:

"Today wasn't too bad. Trying to get the best out of the good tyre run still needs work. On used rubber we are fine but there are improvements we can make on fresh tyres. We tried a few things, some worked and some didn't. When everyone has the same tyre tomorrow, at the same time, in the same conditions we'll know where we really sit.

"We are a little off right now but we'll look at the data and go again."

Jason Bright, Team BOC, p15:

"It's really hard to know where we stand. There was a mixture of guys using hards and some on softs. Also, when the guys start to use softs the rubber on the track affects those on hards even more so it's really hard to tell. If you're following close behind a couple of guys on softs, compared to following guys on hards, that could even slow you up by a couple of tenths just on that lap. It's really hard to get a read on Friday's when that's going on. When everyone was definitely on hards we were in the ballpark.

"Tomorrow when everyone's on the hard tyre we'll know where we stand. I'm confident we'll be in there somewhere. We had a reasonable balance all day and our tyre life seemed pretty good, so we'll give it a good crack tomorrow."

David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing, p16:

"It was a little frustrating as we had pretty ordinary tyres early. I had a few radio dramas and we're trying a few new things so we have a bit to sort through. We are slower at the moment than last year but we'll have a look overnight and find areas for improvement."

Scott Pye, Wilson Security Racing, p21:

"Today was quite good. In particular we did a longer run in the second session to see how the car would react. I am not sure anyone really knows where everyone is at with outright speed as the mix of tyres of today on track proved inconclusive. We ran on the Dunlop hard tyres all day and I know others did change to the soft compound.

"We need to find to find maybe three-tenths to be right at the pointy end. The car is lacking a little bit of lateral grip but we will work on that tonight. This circuit is surprisingly hard on tyres but light on grip so it is quite unique. The extra pace is quite achievable for tomorrow's qualifying."

Dale Wood, Team ADVAM/GB Gal, p22:"It was a bit messy for us. Our timing was a bit out with what we were trying to do today. With me coming to grips with the track and then that, it's made it a tough day. Hopefully tomorrow's qualifying brings people back together again when we're all on the same tyres."

Chaz Mostert, Ford Pepsi Max Crew, p23:

"I have no idea where we ended up but tonight is all about working out how we roll out stronger tomorrow. I didn't do the best job today and we are still trying to find the setup which works for me here. Mark was pretty strong so we will look over all the data and make the changes we think we need to get more out of the whole package."

Jack Perkins, Team JELD-WEN, p24:

"I think it wasn't a bad day for Team JELD-WEN but we were on a different tyre plan for most of it. Unfortunately practice is a bit of a waste of time if you look at the timesheets so hopefully tomorrow when everyone is on the same tyres we can be back up where we were earlier in the day which is in the top 50 per cent of the field."

David Wall, Wilson Security Racing, p25:

"We are still chasing a little bit of car balance after the three sessions. We were a bit up and down during the day and obviously there were guys on both the hard and soft tyres. We ran the hard compound all day so it is a little bit hard to know where will pop out in qualifying tomorrow."