“Today was good but it was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, nothing was going to get me fully ready for this first session I’d say. We went out there then made certain improvements throughout the session, which is what we aim to do, then at the end we put a fresh green set on and got a good run in, ended up in seventh which is a decent result. Good start.”

“We’ve got a bit of time to find out there on the lap, seeing the two Red Bull boys doing the amazing job they’re doing in the cars is promising, but nonetheless, it was a nice session.”

“Looking ahead to tomorrow, qualifying’s going to be hard. This new sprint format makes it really hard for us young guys coming in to get it all right, right away as we’re still learning our craft. Just got to try our best as a team to do a great job. Team have given me a great car so I just need to work on pulling together everything with my driving to get it done.”

“Overall it’s so awesome to be out there, my first drive, it’s surreal to be out there. It’s cool to see where you stack up. I’m going into qualifying tomorrow which I know will be a lot harder but I’ve put all the things I’ve done, been doing and have learned together to do the best I can do. I’m having a good time and looking forward to the next run behind the wheel.”

“Since my first Supercars round at Queensland Raceway I’ve learned that everything’s still crazy, but I’m getting used to it, so that’s fine. It’s been a great day here, obviously teaming up with Craig is a highlight, great teammate to have in the car.
We’re just getting everything sorted together. It’s a long weekend, it’s only Friday, so we’ve just got to run through our processes.”

“Looking at today we’ve got a bit of time to find no doubt about that. The two Red Bull Ampol Racing cars are rapid so looking at that as a benchmark I’ve just got to tune myself up a bit and look at what we can do better.”

“For me I can chat to the likes of Craig obviously, then Will, Broc, Jamie and Scott tonight and say where are you finding your speed and what can I do for tomorrow in the practice and qualifying sessions. That’s definitely the plan. They all have so much incredible insight. So if they’re willing to spare five minutes it’s definitely going to be something on my list to do.”

“2018 was my last full-time year, last time I was here, so this is my first time this weekend in the Gen 3 car at The Bend. It’s a little different to what I remember, but a lot of fun.”

“Compared to the laps I did at Queensland Raceway with Zach it’s a completely different track. I think the high speed, long duration of the corners here is a little bit different to Queensland Raceway. But, you know, in the end the car is really nice. We worked on it over the course of the day and we’re coming out of day one really confident, really positive, and looking forward to tomorrow.

“We’re taking a lot out of today. We had a few little issues in practice one but the team did a great job getting on top of that. Then once we got that sorted we got multiple laps strung together… it’s all about rhythm around here because it’s such a long lap. So really for me it’s obviously to get the race car sorted between the two of us Zach and I. Tomorrow we’ll work on that. We’ll probably do some longer runs in both drives and then we’ll see where we end up at the end overall. It’s just all about getting confidence around this track and both of us are still working on that.”

“After yesterday we made a few changes overnight. This morning we felt pretty comfortable, we were going in the right direction but alongside that the overall feeling is it’s so tricky around here. The track has got so many different styles of corner and you can’t make the cars suit one specifically. It’s quite a tricky place if you lose the one corner because then all the corners flow on through the lap you’re trying to build. But the crew’s done a fantastic job in just trying to get a little bit better in everything we do every time. I’ve got to clean it up ahead of tomorrow, it’s obviously a long race so we’ll get dialled in and go for i,t doing what we know works for us.”

“Craig is great, he’s trying to keep it positive, but it has been pretty difficult so far I won’t lie. When he’s been in the car, he’s had some really great feedback to take on board for the team and I get to learn from that as well. That’s what experience looks like. Tomorrow, I just have to make sure that we look after the rubber and just keep it clean. It’s easier said than done.”

“Compared to yesterday the car felt much better today, I think that obviously in hindsight we had time to look at it overnight. We made some adjustments. We did a bit of a semi race run today and I felt much more comfortable with the car. The car flows better. So for me it gives me a lot more confidence now going into the race tomorrow. But of course, you can always learn a little bit more. We’ll sit down tonight, we’ll look at strategies and we’ll look at how we can improve what we’ve got to get better.”

“Interesting to see the safety car trial on track. Always good in theory. I think that it’s going to be interesting if it does pop up in the race, it’s obviously something brand new for all of us, stewards included, so it’s going to be really interesting to see how it’s executed in a race if it is. You just hope it doesn’t influence the race. What happened today could’ve happened to any of us getting used to something new, it’s a wakeup call and learning for the rest for us.”

“From here with Zach and I we just need to have fun, don’t overthink it, like he’s one of those drivers that loves to analyze everything so try not to get too deep into that. Don’t overthink it and just drive to what he feels the cars is doing and needs to do.”

“Today for me I think was really good. I had great pace throughout my stints. Obviously as the race went on there was some build up of rubber which made it a bit tricky at times but we just had to chip away. Hadn’t done any stints that long before today so there’s an unknown there in what it’s going to be like. The team did a fantastic job, gave me a great car that we could power through the field with. You always think what if we could’ve qualified better, and that’s a big thing to take away and work on from this weekend. A safety car would’ve helped there but at the end of the day we have to race the race that’s happening on track.”

“The race itself I think I did fifty something laps, wasn’t counting, I reckon if I’d counted it would’ve felt like a lot more. It was tough to be honest, it’s quite a physical track, those rights are really loaded and go for so long which makes it hard to get through, hard on the body. I’m feeling it now and I’ll be feeling it later.”

“Starting in twenty sixth it was only going to be up from there, and Craig got a really good start. We did have a run off and did get up against another car which dropped us back a bit before the pit stop.”

“After he’d done his stints and handed it over to me it was all about just chipping away. Even though there were a few little errors from me but together we’d moved up ten spots which we take positives from.”

“Fantastic to get the first Enduro under the belt with the team, with Craig, and myself for experience. It’s really, really good preparation for Bathurst and that’s how we’ve got to look at it, it’s going to be huge that, I can’t even comprehend what it’s going to be like. I’ve just got to go away, look at what the guys up the road at Red Bull Ampol are doing and see how I can learn from them and Craig as well to be as primed as I can be for Bathurst.”

“Going into the race today we knew the first stint was always going to be chaotic, starting a little bit further back than we wanted to, but we just made sure that we didn’t damage the car or have any incidents in those opening few. Saying that we did have a couple of little ones, little incidents, towards the end of the stint I just made a little mistake running wide off the triple right which was a little bit frustrating because we had a really fast car. So it was just for me that little mistake but up until then the car was great and we were just getting into a rhythm based on the race around us.”

“In the end I was actually really happy after my forty something laps, I think that we managed to scramble back especially in my second stint. Again, we had a very fast car. Our pit stop was really quick, really good, and I think that for me was a big part of then being able to give the car in one piece across to Zach and then let him run home.”

“The good thing is that this is obviously a prelim to Bathurst and we took two good things away from it… a fast car and some strong work by the team in the pits. I think we’ve got a better procedure now, Zach and I we work extremely well together, the economics of the car are good, so we can tick a few boxes there from the weekend. I think that we learned a lot here… the sense of logistics, the way we operate, and I think that even though we qualified poorly we ended up having a great race car. So at the end of the day when we go to Bathurst, we can hang our heads high really take a lot of positives out of this weekend.”

“Zach’s done a great job. This is a first for him and to now have an Enduro under his belt, to do the multiple laps in the double stint that he’s done here at quite a physical track, I think that gives him a good insight to what Bathurst is going to bring.”

“That’s probably one of the bigger days I’ve had in a car, on a track, but it was actually really good. I feel a lot better than I thought I would. The team has done a fantastic job with everything, the car, managing everything, the garage, really fast stops and all those things. So grateful they’ve got my back this weekend.”

“Super stoked to get two full races done, and that last one was pretty chaotic. The start was pretty close, we were in the middle there and it got dicey. I’ve learned a lot today about being in that field for a race, where to put the car and how to move around. It’s all going to help going into tomorrow then in to the Enduro rounds. Just working towards improving every time is a big thing, that’s my main thing.”

“We see Will and Broc doing a fantastic job, so there’s lots to learn there from those cars and what they’re doing over there. We’ll dig into it and have a look and take what we can from it all.”

“Tomorrow I’d love to qualify further up than mid pack, it makes your life a lot easier when you’re further up the grid. It’s just all so close and competitive. So my expectations probably don’t change it’s just all about getting a solid run in. On Friday we were in the top ten so that’s got to be the goal now. It’s just me getting up to speed.”

“Emotions wise today it was insane. Obviously, this morning was fantastic. Worked pretty hard overnight to see where I could improve for the qualifying session today and managed to do so, which was great. Got into the top eighteen through that first session which I was obviously pretty happy with. Then I’m in the top ten shootout, we were third fastest, we used a green to get in there but didn’t see that result coming! Then in the top ten shootout I did a solid lap, I was second of the runners on used rubber, to finish up where I did I was stoked with, starting in fifth much better than further back in the field.”

“In the race, off the start, I got a reasonable start but Brodie got me straight away and then I was running sixth through the first stint. But was happy with that.”

“After that it was all crazy from there. Came out in the safety car line and got into a few fights, had one big moment on the main straight with someone else and that really hampered our day.”

“At the end there we picked off a few cars but the damage was already done. Nonetheless, fast car and I feel like I’ve improved over the weekend which was one my biggest goals. Onwards and upwards. Just being around the intensity of these guys in the main game field is a big plus, they’re just very, very…. their racing’s just mental. So, it was much nicer up the front today than what it was down the back yesterday but as I said all learning and all improving each time I get behind the wheel. Looking forward to the next one with Craig alongside me.”