The Bend 500 – Practice 4 & 5, Qualifying & Top Ten Shootout Results
Will Brown/Scott Pye – Car #1
Practice 4 – 27th (2:40.1669)
Practice 5 – 11th (1:49.9344)
Qualifying – 16th (1:50.0944)
“Unfortunately a tough start to the day.
I mean, the additional driver session with what happened there and then just got tougher from there really.”
“Thought we had a really good car underneath us yesterday afternoon and then just struggled to get any pace today. Ended up in sixteenth which was very disappointing, but we’ll get after it tomorrow and try and fight forward.”
“We shouldn’t be sixteenth, shouldn’t be where we are. They boys and team do a good job and they’ll take a good look at it now before tomorrow. We’ll be ready to go.”
“Big talking point this morning is the trial of the safety car procedure. While it’s not hard to understand I think putting it into practice there’s a lot of risk involved. I think that in a way kind of ironic that we’re trying to improve safety but at the same time we’ve implemented something that has high risk, and I think we saw today, it’s very easy to get caught out when you’re pushing it and you’re trying to find every little advantage on track which is just part of competing.”
“But one thing I think we saw today is what happens when you’re in a freight train of potentially ten cars say and someone’s breaking to a line at race speed one hundred metres up the road from you. So I think we could see a bottle neck if it happens in a race, it’s going to happen at least once as long as they run that slow zone. So it’s definitely going to be interesting across the weekend and how that unfolds.”
“My first impression is obviously not great of it right now. I think unless you drive a race car it sounds really easy when you’re talking about it… but you put the helmet on and you start driving at speed and things change very quickly. So it’ll be interesting to see where this safety car procedure goes after this weekend.”
“After what happened today with my car getting so much damage, I think we need to make sure that I get plenty of laps tomorrow in the warm up to get some track time in. It’s not too late to focus on the race car. We’ve still got a few changes after qualifying we can do to make the car a little bit better and then ultimately we need to make a good start tomorrow and move the car forward as far as possible once the race is go. I still feel very race fit and very sharp, so I myself need to make sure I capitalise and put Will in a spot where he can make hay at the end of the race.”
Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup – Car #88
Practice 4 – 15th (1:51.6380)
Practice 5 – 3rd (1:49.3451)
Qualifying – 2nd (1:50.7119)
Top Ten Shootout – 1st (1st (1:48.6548))
“So this morning, obviously not the smoothest start to the day, looking at that trial of the new safety car system. I’m not going to speak for Jamie but I think he just made a bit of a mistake, and it obviously shows that it is quite a complex change when someone like Jamie can make a mistake like that, but for all of us, it’s our first time doing it. I think the most unfortunate thing from that was that Scott missed out on his session and getting some laps in ahead of tomorrow.”
“Our race run after that didn’t go the smoothest either, we were a little bit out of whack, so it was good in Practice 5 to get back into a groove and do some qualifying simulations. Then qualifying went really well, we got a bit out of sync, which made me a bit nervous towards the end of the run, then we nailed that last lap of the first qualifying session, putting us in P2 which was great.”
“Then the shootout, the track just kept getting faster and faster and faster. So it was obviously great to be at the end for our run and do a really solid lap, one that I was really happy with. There’s always a little bit more left on the table at a track that’s this long, but really solid and stoked to be on pole for tomorrow.”
“So it was a rough, rough day for me. I had a great day yesterday, felt really good in the car, then it just changes so quickly. For me maybe I just need to take the advice I’ve been giving the young fellas for the last three years… forget about it, move on. It’s all about tomorrow and the race. So tough start to the day.”
“Broc has certainly made up for it in the end. He did a fantastic job as he has been doing this year in qualifying. So very happy to start in the best spot, but it only gives you an opportunity, you know what I mean. We still know it’s going to be a long, long day and race.”
“I’ve got to make sure I play my part and get it to Broc in the best position and then it’ll be up to him to bring it home. So I’ll be head down.”
