Drivers' Quoteboard: Wilson Security Sandown 500 practice

Jamie Whincup, Red Bull Racing Australia, p1:

"It was a pretty straight-forward day for us because it was mostly about the co-drivers. We're pleased to be at the top of the timesheet and the car is in the window but we've still got a lot of work to do before Sunday. It now all starts becoming pretty critical as we move in to chapter two of the championship for the season of endurance. There's big points up for grabs on Sunday, the top five have all been fighting over 100 points the last few rounds and now we've got 300 points for one race. My co-driver Paul (Dumbrell) and I have been mates for a long time and it's our third year paired together and he's in great shape so hopefully we see his best. Sandown has been kind to us in the past, not that it guarantees anything this weekend, but we'll take that confidence with us but trying to finish the 500km is a feat in itself and then top that with intermittent conditions - makes for an exciting race."

Scott McLaughlin, Valvoline Racing GRM, p2:

"We have been quietly confident coming into this weekend that our cars will be quick and it has been quick everywhere. We are pretty happy, this morning I was just getting used to the car, but I sort of forgotten what's happened now so I am learning off Alex (Premat) a bit.

"It's a little bit hard, it would have been good to squeeze in another practice session, even if it was a little shootout at the end just to get your eye in but it's the same for everyone and move on to tomorrow."

Shane van Gisbergen, Team TEKNO VIP Petfoods, p3:

"My session was ok it was quite rushed, as the guys said we don't get much time to do many laps so we tried to do as much as we can. We were pretty competitive but we decided not to put tyres on in my session and ended up where we were but I was pretty happy with the car, just needed a few tweaks and Jonothan had the same comments and we just tuned from there.

"To be up the top in a co-driver session is a good thing and shows that we will be a strong pairing.

"I've been pretty excited for the endurance races."

Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team, p4:

"My day was pretty uneventful, I only did 40 minutes this morning! The car was good, straight out of the truck we were p2. Got a few things we need to tune on with the car but gave the car to Luffy (Warren Luff) for the rest of the day as the regs said and he did a good job too. So we're reasonably comfortable, got a few things we need to tune up overnight, but our starting base is pretty good. So looking forward to Saturday and Sunday."

James Courtney, Holden Racing Team, p5:

"I just went out, went around and came in (in my session)! We didn't really get a good read on the car, we were pretty unhappy with the way it was. Murph's been working on it the whole afternoon, so hopefully he's got it sorted out for us."

James Moffat, Norton Hornets, p7:

"You really need to speak to Taz (Douglas) about how the car went - it feels like ages ago since I sat in it.

"I wasn't completely comfortable with the car balance at the end of my session, but it looks like we have made some improvements in Practice 2 and 3 with Taz behind the wheel.

"It was a quiet day for us with no major hiccups, and that's what you want leading into an endurance race like this.

"There's certainly some areas on the car that we want to improve. Taz and I were saying the same things about the car which is what you want, so we'll see where we end up tomorrow."

Jason Bright, Team BOC, p9:

"We've definitely got some areas to work on both for race and qualifying pace. It's still early days though. Tomorrow's session we'll try and tidy up a couple of areas where we're a bit weak and hopefully get into the top 10 for qualifying."

Michael Caruso, Norton Hornets, p10:

"I only had one of the three sessions, and to be honest, it was more of a warm-up to see where the car was, and from there, it was up to Dean (Fiore) and Killer (engineer Steven Todkill) to work with it.

"They seem reasonably happy, but it's hard to know to what tyres everyone else was on so we only know what we've got.

"Tomorrow, I get back in the car before qualifying and I get to judge what we've come up with today. Qualifying is going to be crucial and a big part of the 500km event."

Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, p11:

"The car was pretty good when I drove it in the morning but it's changed a lot since then with the two afternoon sessions with Luke (Youlden). We've relied quite heavily on Luke to tune the car today so he gets some more driving in. I'm looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings."

Tim Slade, Supercheap Auto Racing, p12:

"It was a fairly positive, productive day. I was really happy with where things were at in the first practice and Tony (D'Alberto) went really, really well. His pace, relative to the timesheets, isn't where it should be because he didn't get the opportunity to put on another set of tyres in that session, so he just worked through some more changes with the car and it's more about getting some good information and feedback on those changes and outright lap speed. So he did an awesome job and we both have similar feedback and both want the same things for the car, so that's helpful. It was a good day, so see what tomorrow brings."

Rick Kelly, Jack Daniels Racing, p13:

"It's an interesting day, one session for myself and two co-driver only sessions for Dave Russell.

"The track trends are pretty similar to what we've experienced in recent years at Sandown, with overcast and pretty cool conditions.

"We're just going through the motions of our plan, everything is going pretty well.

"A pretty conservative approach for us this weekend, we're waiting for the track to come to us a bit instead of chasing things too dramatically today.

"The car's not quite where we want, but we think come Sunday, it will be moving in the right direction."

Dale Wood, Team ADVAM/GB Gal, p14:

"I was pretty happy with how the car rolled out today. It's the first time in a while that we rolled out the car and I've felt it was this good. We now need to just fine tune it rather than making any big adjustments."

Nick Percat, HHA Racing, p16:

"I did 15 laps this morning in my only session today and it felt pretty good. Oliver (Gavin) did a great job today and learnt the track very quickly. He felt comfortable in the car and it was a solid first outing for him at Sandown today."

David Wall, Wilson Security DJR, p17:

"Three timed laps for me for the day, so I didn't really get a lot of running. Thankfully, when we did have the problem this morning, we managed to gather it up and not do any damage. We had a good tyre bank today and we worked hard on improving the car in each outing.

"Steve (Johnson) did a good job and tuned it up to finish in the Top 10 in the last session. So I am looking forward to jumping back in tomorrow morning for the final practice session. I think we have a good race package."

Scott Pye, Wilson Security DJR, p18:

"We only ran one set of tyres in the first session so we were pleased with the results. The car rolled out of the truck and was pretty competitive. Since my stint, Ash has made some changes throughout the day. The car has got better as we went so it looks good for tomorrow.

"The mishap in my session with Dave's car dumping the oil and then getting caught up in it set us back a bit, but since then the car has been faultless."

Chaz Mostert, Ford Pepsi Max Crew, p20:

"The Pepsi Max Ford didn't feel too bad this morning and Paul (Morris) has spent the afternoon working away at feeling good in the car and he got there by the end which is encouraging. We'll see what we can do tomorrow in qualifying as we have the usual session but also two qualifying races so there's a long way to go. I think we're reasonably quick but we need to work on a few things and tidy a few areas so we can be more confident going into tomorrow."

Craig Lowndes, Red Bull Racing Australia, p21:

"It's exciting to be here at the start of the endurance season, finally. The car is working really well and as always, we're still looking for speed but the balance isn't too bad. We know that it's going to look after its tyres so I'm pretty pleased. The main drivers only had one practice session today so Steve had the majority of the running around and he seems to be happy so we'll just keeping working at it and see where we get up tomorrow. It's obviously a big day tomorrow with one more practice session and the two qualifying races for the big race on Sunday. I'm confident in my partnership with Steve, we've known each other for a long time so we're almost like an old married couple. I've got all the faith in him and we're both looking forward to Sunday's race."

David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing, p22:

"It was an odd feeling as I was only in the car in first practice so today was all about the co-drivers. We had an inherent over-steer problem all day and we spent a big chunk of time sorting that out. We need to go through the data as our changes didn't seem to fix it to our satisfaction. Dean worked on it as well and it was good for him to get a heap of laps in ahead of tomorrow's busy qualifying day."

Russell Ingall, Repair Management Racing Aus, p23:

"It was a reasonably solid day considering all the changes that we have made leading into this weekend.

"It always takes people a bit of time to get their eye in but towards the end of the day we definitely seemed to be more competitive.

"Tim (Blanchard) did a solid job which is encouraging and it looks like he will consistently be in the top ten of the co-drivers.

"We have to find a bit more speed to be with the front runners so we just have to get our heads together tonight and sort out a set-up which will go into tomorrow's last practice session and the all important qualifying."

Todd Kelly, Jack Daniel's Racing, p24:

"Today was about getting Alex (Buncombe) comfortable, and also tuning the car.

"It hasn't been too bad a day, the car was there or thereabouts in my practice session.

"We didn't have the quality of tyres to put us up the pointy end, but the car was quick before everyone put their good tyres on.

"I'm pretty happy with that, and we've done a bit of fine tuning since.

"Alex has done a good job today finding the limits of the track and the car, and he got down to some reasonable times.

"It's quite good in our case having those two co-driver sessions back-to-back for the guys who don't have a lot of experience around this place.

"It's been a good day, and hopefully we can get in the car tomorrow with some better tyres and be a fair bit further up the grid."

Jack Perkins, Team JELD-WEN, p25:

"The new format gave the co-drivers plenty of laps which was good so Cam (Waters) got nice and comfortable. We had a few small issues this morning, which probably hampered progress in my session but we got on top of things this afternoon. There aren't any trophies for today so we'll be digging deep to try and secure a good starting spot for the race on Sunday."