Bathurst 1000 – Practice 1 & 2 Results
Zach Bates/Craig Lowndes – Car #888
Practice 1 – 27th (2:07.5859)
Practice 2 – 7th (2:07.9212)
“It’s very exciting to hit the track for the first time in the Supercheap Auto rocket. It’s been a day of many conditions, the weather very much hindered us and the whole paddock in the first two sessions of the week. I was fortunate enough to get a couple dry laps in practice one and also in practice two. It felt great. There is a bit of a difference between the two cars, from my Super2 car to the Gen3 car, but it’s a great learning curve.”
“Yesterday Craig and I went for the track-walk which was great because he explains the small things that you don’t think about like looking after the rubber on the car, where to do it and how, fuel saving and how to go about it around what’s a big lap with a lot of changes in pace, braking, overtaking opportunities and that big run down the hill. It’s been fantastic for Craig to be in my ear and walking me through it all.”
“That practice session I did, we went out on a dry track in practice two and it was a great feeling with the car. I was pleasantly surprised… and then the rain came down. We made the call to sit in the pits for most of the session hoping that it was going to clear up but it didn’t really. I’m confident that we’ve got a good car in both conditions and for me it was good to get laps in even if limited in both conditions.”
“For the rest of the weekend we should be aiming for Top Ten. The Red Bull Ampol guys up the road do a fantastic job and set an extremely high benchmark, so it’s great to be able to look at their data and I feel it’s who I need to compare myself against this weekend. We’ll get back on track tomorrow, take the learnings from today and get on with it leading in to qualifying and the race on Sunday.”
“This is my thirty second start at The Mountain and it’s always exciting coming back here. It doesn’t matter if you’re a main driver or a co-driver, for me it’s nice to come back with this Supercheap Auto Wildcard program again and again because of what it stands for and giving that next generation an opportunity.”
“That’s Zach, and Zach and I sat down and had a good analysis of The Bend given it obviously wasn’t the best result for us. We learned a lot and off the back of that it’s something that we take a lot of confidence into this weekend.”
“The car is working really well. I did most of the first practice session and the car feels great, it’s been set up well and it felt comfortable. We made some adjustments, we had a plan, we stuck to it. My second run didn’t feel as good as the first so then we made some changes to get in a really positive last run. So a good sign for us knowing the car is in the window and we can keep fine tuning over the next couple of days ahead of the race on Sunday.”