“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.”

“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.”

“We had some great track sessions today. Our main focus for practice two was to get ourselves ready for qualifying. Craig went out and did a race run, so we ironed out a few little niggles, but then we turned to qualifying set up which turned out to be really positive. We made some smart changes ahead of the session and I tried to make some improvements around the track which I was really happy with.”

“Our biggest focus now is fine tuning a car that we can race all day on Sunday. We’ll make sure we have something that looks after itself and is mechanically sound. Craig’s done a lot more race runs so far, and it’s been great to have his input around this track. The whole Supercheap Auto Wildcard team is working well and I’m sure we’ll also look at what the Red Bull Ampol team are doing too so come Sunday, hopefully we’re competitive.”

“Tomorrow Craig and I are going to continue to learn how the track will evolve. Lots of rubber goes down between now and Sunday, but the biggest thing tomorrow is to give our pit crew some practice ahead of the race. We’ve got plenty of guys in there that are really excited to jump on the guns, so I’m sure it’s going to be a big day for them as well.”

“I’m excited to be looking down the barrel at my first Bathurst 1000 with Supercheap Auto and Craig Lowndes, It’s incredible. I can’t really believe it! Typically today is our first day on a normal weekend. So, its time to put our head down and get to the pointy end of the pack.”

“Zach went out early in practice this morning and did a couple of qualifying runs, and then I did a bit of a race run. Between the sessions, we made some setup changes but unfortunately we went the wrong way, which was a good thing to learn. So we reversed that and then went back to a qualifying set up, put Zach back in and simulated for qualifying. It’s just a matter of making sure that we’ve got the speed when we need it, but at the moment, the qualifying car looks really positive.”

“It’s a lot hotter today but importantly, the UV is higher. I think that changes the circuit and means more rubber is going down because we haven’t had any rain. So the track’s going to rubber up and we’re going to make sure that we keep chasing the track as it keeps evolving.”

‘I think these conditions suit us really nicely – the warmer the day the better it is for us. I do prefer a dry race, obviously, but it’s just a matter of what comes our way. The long-range forecast is to have a sunny day like this, which really suits us.”

“I’m still focusing on a race car set-up. Every time I’m in the car, I’m simulating full fuel tanks and longer runs. Zach can focus on the qualifying pace. At the end of the day, we’ve got to find out where we start and then we’ll work it out.”

“In the practice sessions today it was probably a less chaotic than yesterday, but equally as important trying to get our race car as speedy as possible for the race Sunday. We focused on race runs and setting up a car that we can drive around for one thousand kilometres tomorrow. I can’t believe I’m saying that – it’s very exciting to be on the eve of the biggest race of my career so far.”

“We’ll start back in the pack at 16th, so hopefully we can do what we’ve done in the past and make a few positions up, and then hand it over to bring it up a few more. It’s such a long day and looks like there’s some weather on the forecast, so it’s going to be exciting. It’s actually been good that we did some wet laps earlier this week. I put a bet on with our engineer Matt that it was going to rain so hopefully I get paid out on that one!”

“I’m honoured to be starting my last Bathurst 1000 with Triple Eight tomorrow. Today was another day of two practice sessions and making car race ready. We took another chunk of data and learnings from the two sessions, running heavy fuel, the car was working really nicely across the top of the mountain which is really important. 161 laps tomorrow, fighting a race car across the top is always going to be exhausting, but we’re really confident about tomorrow.”

“For me, you can’t win the race on the first lap but you can certainly lose it, so for us it’s just minimising any contact, keeping the car clean, seeing what the weather does bring, maybe look at some fuel saving to begin with if we can’t progress our way forward but hopefully we can jump some spots in the first few laps.”

“Of course, we’re all talking about weather but we’ll deal with that tomorrow. There’s no doubt that there’s areas where you’ve got to be a bit more cautious in the wet, especially across the top of the mountain. There’s no room for error. But it’s going to be the same for everyone, to look after the wet weather tire and hopefully hand the car over either way in a great position.”

“I actually just said to Zach to enjoy it, enjoy the race. I’m feeling really confident about tomorrow. This won’t be his last Bathurst, that’s for sure, but it’s always going to be his first. He’s got his great family and friends around him this weekend and I just hope we can talk to you this time tomorrow with a great result.”

“Today was an incredible day on so many levels. It started off with the driver parade – an extraordinary experience. It was very special to do that with Craig. Getting into the race, Craig started and had a good opening stint – it was pretty chaotic from the get-go, but it was nothing compared to the rest of the race.”

“He put it in a great spot for me and did a fantastic job when it started to rain with slicks on. After he handed over to me, I was basically driving in the rain for the rest of the race. I made a couple of errors that I’m a bit disappointed about, but in the overall scheme of things, I got the hang of it by the end, and we were able to finish 10th. I was comfortable in the car by the end and tried to bring it up a few more spots, but didn’t want to risk any damage or falling further back.”

“You set little expectations of where you want to be, and my aim was to be in the 10. The whole week’s just been incredible – what an experience, I’m very lucky to be able to do something like this, and the team has been amazing. I don’t have many words that can express how this feels. I’m so grateful to Supercheap Auto and Triple Eight for their support, Craig for his guidance, and the Bathurst fans for staying out in the rain today.”

“I actually got a really good start today, we had a little bit of contact early on with Garth and a couple of other cars, which we were trying to minimise. Early in the first stint, I was stuck in traffic, so I tried to fuel save as much as possible. It started off dry, and then it got very wet. It has been a hell of a day because at one point, we were going well. Then we were a lap down. We got that back, and then of course, the rain came through.” 

“The car was working really well across the top of the mountain. By the final driver change, I would have liked to have handed it over a bit further up, but of course, the attrition of this race, everything and anything happened – there was a lot of carnage going on. Zach drove the wheels off it, and I’m proud of him. It was great to have another successful wildcard campaign, and to finish in the top 10 at Bathurst is really, really special for me.”

“Zach has been quite incredible. There’s no doubt that he’s had a tough couple of weeks leading into this, and to block that out is impressive, and to have five generations of the Bates family rally around him and give him the strength that he needed was very special. He’s a credit to himself and his achievements this year with the Supercheap Auto Wildcard.”

“Starting my last Bathurst 1000 with Triple Eight was one of those moments that I’ll always remember; it’s a chapter now closed after two decades. The quality of the car that the team build, the dedication and the performance that the team have had over those two decades is incredible. It was really special to see the car come across the finish line in 10th today.”

“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.”