Ritter's experience earned him qualifying gig

Valvoline Racing GRM team boss Garry Rogers says co-driver Greg Ritter's experience at the treacherous Surfers Paradise circuit was the reason he was given the green light to qualify the #34 S60 over the weekend.

Rather than run Championship driver Robert Dahlgren - who tackled the 'concrete canyon' for the first time - Rogers thought it was wise to have long-time co-driver Ritter take onqualifying.

Statistics showed it proved a good choice for the #34 entry, with Ritter landing the Volvo 18th in both qualifying sessions at the Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600. Dahlgren's average qualifying position for the season is 20.4, with his best showing eighth in Perth earlier this year.

"The Gold Coast street circuit is rather unforgiving with concrete walls lining the circuit," Rogers wrote in his post-event wrap up.

"It was decided that considering Greg Ritter's years of experience at this circuit that he would qualify Car 34."

Rogers felt 18th was an extremely good job by the co-driver, who was seven-tenths off the time of teammate Scott McLaughlin, who nabbed provisional pole for Race 31.

However, the team boss also praised Dahlgren on his performance over the weekend, saying Sunday was the Swede's best race for GRM all season.

"He began a little slowly off the line losing five places in the first couple of laps. But, he then got into a very good groove and had performed very well to have Car 34 in 14th position when he handed over to Greg Ritter on lap 60," Rogers said.

Ritter was turned around in a racing incident with Jack Perkins late in the race, leaving them to finish 17th, but the sister Volvo shared by McLaughlin and Alex Premat made it to second on the podium, behind Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell, who clinched the Pirtek Enduro Cup with the 2.8sec victory.

The result was fitting for the team, which looked strong on Saturday, but rolled the dice with a strategy that ultimately hurt them, starting McLaughlin and Ritter - who would complete the two-thirds of the race generally relegated to the full-time driver - when most competitors started their co-drivers.

"From previous experience I banked on the fact that there would an early Safety Car as the less experienced co-drivers fought over position. As such I decided to start McLaughlin in #33 and Dahlgren in #34," Rogers explained.

"I was right with the Safety Car being deployed on lap one as a result of Greg Murphy crashing the #22 HRT Commodore on the start line [but] unfortunately this was too early for a driver change. The ideal time is when the fuel fill time is more than 10 seconds (15+ laps) as that is how long it takes the drivers to complete a driver change...

"It's always easy after a race to look back and say 'maybe I should have done this, or so on' but you never know exactly what is going to happen in a race.

"Sure, in retrospect I took a gamble starting Scott in the car, and as much as Alex drove a very solid and more importantly damage free race, he lost time to the full-time drivers which in turn lost us track position."

Overall, Rogers is pleased to have brought home two relatively straight cars, as well as a surfboard, and of course is looking to the penultimate November 14-16 Phillip Island round for more results.

"The icing is on the cake when you achieve pole positions and podium finishes. The only thing missing is the candles - but we can't be too greedy. Yet I can assure you all that we will be working hard to earn the candles between now and the next round."

Click here to read Rogers' full wrap following the Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600.