LIVE DIARY: PERTH SUPERSPRINT

“It was a fairly uneventful day, to be honest. It was a long old tyre game, as it always is around here. We would love to have a win, so would the other 25 drivers in the category, but we will get there, it’s not too far away. We will keep chipping away as we always do, it’s that extra one percent that’s needed. Two podiums here is a great result for us, everyone is being all ‘doom and gloom’ over the competition we are facing, but as I said earlier it’s awesome for the category. We will go into Winton with some data under our belt, however, for me, the Winton track has always been a tight and repetitive track. We need to make sure we qualify well there, otherwise you don’t stand a chance.”

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97

“It was a pretty straightforward race, we just went about the strategy. The car felt ok, but as I said yesterday, we are still lacking pace. We just aren’t fast enough, and from my point of view, it was a pretty uneventful race. I didn’t pass anyone until my last lap, I just kept driving around. The car feels good, but we just need to make it faster. We’ve had better weekends, that’s for sure, but all we can do is keep pushing and crunching the numbers to keep up the front.”

“We pushed hard today, but it wasn’t enough. There is no doubting that the competition is strong, but that’s what we want. You can only stay on the top for so long, and it is awesome to go out there and get involved in some actual racing. The car was good. I got a reasonable start, but we need to make the car quicker, which could be a challenge. No surprises out there, but obviously with the format as it is, it’s so important to qualify well. If we had qualified slightly better we may have seen a higher step on the podium. Really happy with P3,  we are confident we can maximize what we have heading into tomorrow.”

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97

“We started ok. We just didn’t have the pace today, I just couldn’t get up the front. In the first stint I really fell behind, I couldn’t keep up. Jamie (Whincup) got past me and got in front, he raced on. We pitted, made an adjustment which made the car better, but by that time we were too far behind. The racing was ok, but we can do better. The car feels good, we just need pace. We can try a few things tomorrow to ensure we have a really good crack, we just need to push that little bit harder.”

““My car is good without a doubt. I was clocking fast laps the moment I put new tyres on. It’s a crazy little track, I am looking forward to really racing tomorrow. We are there or thereabouts, tyre strategy is going to be key over the weekend due to the grip on the track, it’s fairly worn out as we all know. Just a bit of work tonight will have the car race ready tomorrow.”

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97

“The day is never perfect, it was a tough day. It is a tricky track with zero grip. I think we made some good steps forward today, it was tough to finally get there, but I think we can walk away from the day with some good information to work on overnight. We broke the practice lap record, which has been held by Jamie (Whincup) for about six years, so as hard as it was to get there, it was worth the push. The car felt amazing at the end, hopefully, it stays amazing all weekend.”