LIVE DIARY: PHILLIP ISLAND

Sunday 23rd April 

RACE WRAP

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 Qualifying Race 2 – Eighth (1:29.9305) Race 2 –  16th Championship Standing – Second (561 points) Jamie Whincup – Car #88 Qualifying Race 2  – Third (1:29.4060) Race 2 – 18th Championship Standing – Fourth (522 points)

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “Not a very good day again. The race was all about tyres. It was looking really good until we had a tyre blowout. I am not too sure on what happened. Our car felt great, and we were really safe on the tyre yesterday, but today for whatever reason was different. It’s a tough one, a shame, we dropped a long way back and ended up in 16th position. We have obviously got some work to do before heading to Perth.” Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “Really tough day today. Obviously, we pushed the limits, we tried to get more pace out of the car. We got more pace but blew the rear tyres. After that, it didn’t get much better. We lost pace in the last stint, for some reason our strategy wasn’t working either. At the end of the day we had a couple of good looking cars doing scenic laps around the circuit. Today’s result is a collective issue, we all need to go back to the workshop and work harder across all areas. We’ve got a bit to do in the pace department for sure.”

11:30am – JW starts in P3 ahead of this afternoon’s race, SVG in P8. Charge on!

8:12am – How’s this for SUNday?

7:10am – Morning! Final day on track today.

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Saturday 22nd April 

RACE WRAP:

Jamie Whincup – Car #88 Qualifying 1  – Sixth (1:29.8524) Race 1 – SecondShane van Gisbergen – Car #97 Qualifying 1 – Third (1:29.6445) Race 1 –  Fourth

Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “Crazy day from a spectacle point of view. We predicted it was going to be a gnarly race from the start so we went ultra conservative on the set-up. This meant we didn’t have pace. so it was hard to really stay in position. At the end of the day, we were strategic in ensuring we made it to the end, which brought us home in second place. All in all, pretty happy we maximised what we had, but we will be more aggressive tomorrow.” Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “In all honesty, it’s crap. The penalties being handed out were ridiculous. Crossing the line at pit entry is something that happens at every track, and the process is different on every track, yet now they decide to police it in a way they have never done here before. It’s pretty average if you ask me. They’ll need to rewatch the race and penalise everyone because otherwise, they’ll only be selecting a handful. As long as it’s consistent from now on. In the end, we raced well when we were given the opportunity.”

2:12pm – Roll her out boys.

1:22pm – SVG will start P3 on the grid today with JW in P6. A new 250km race format kicks off this afternoon.

9:14am – Back of the garage signing session happening now!

7:30am – Plenty of happenings on track – plus, it’s sunny!

Friday 21st April

8:27pm – Checking on our Vortex neighbors and the guys and girls are pushing on strong! It’s the Triple Eight blood pumping through theiveinsns!

6:37pm – Full tummies from dinner as we head back into the garage to prep the cars ahead of tomorrow. The weather man suggests sunshine tomorrow – so fingers crossed!

RACE WRAP

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 Practice 1 – Second (1:30.8487) Practice 2 – Second (1:29.8173)Jamie Whincup – Car #88 Practice 1  – 11th (1:31.3361) Practice 2 – Ninth (1:30.3383 )

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “It is a bit of a balancing act here. We’ve never been on a circuit like this, on these tyres. We found the limits early, especially Craig (Lowndes) in the first session. I had damaged my tyre in the second session, which bit us later. Obviously, the times are the quickest they have ever been, we are learning. The cars are going well, we just need to find that balance to have reliability in the tyre and keep performance.” Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “We came out unscathed, which is good, but we just aren’t quick enough. We have heaps of work to do, the car is really out of balance. A fair bit of tyre drama on track, but that’s because everyone is pushing the limits. It’s great to push the limits, you just need to find the balance.”

1:30pm – A huge practice session, plenty of action. SVG finishes in P2, JW P11.

9:10am – Take three! What colour combo have you liked best?

7:00am – It’s all happening on the Island!

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Thursday 20th April 

11:30am – FAST FACT – JDub has not finished outside the top four in the CoTF races at PI covering 2013-2016.

9:00am – Set-up has commenced!

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Wednesday 19th April 

2:45pm – They are back at it again. The dynamic duo is filming another ripper of a clip for our mates at O’Brien.

12:02pm – The boys popped into Holden HQ Melbourne to check out some limited edition Commodores and their owners. Nice rigs!

10:17am – FAST FACT – Triple Eight has won 10 of the last 17 Supercars races held at Phillip Island.

8:30am – DUTTO DOWNLOAD –

“Phillip Island, with it picturesque setting, can’t help but be one of the teams favourite tracks. This combined with its fast flowing corners makes it a challenge for any team, it can be very punishing if you are a little bit wrong on setup or preparation. Everyone at Triple Eight is refreshed after having worked hard to turn around the cars while in Tasmania, this enabled the whole team to have the full Easter four day long weekend, which is far from the norm, and unfortunately not something that all the teams up and down pitlane got to enjoy this year. We know how to make our cars go fast around the Island, we will be working hard to make sure it is fast enough.”

Tuesday 18th April

1:11pm – We’ve got drivers! Yep, come meet the drivers across the Phillip Island race weekend, you won’t regret it!

 

Date: Friday 21^st April

Time: 10:00 – 10:20am  

Location: RBHRT merchandise shop, on track

Note: Signing card required*

 

Date: Saturday 22^nd April

Time: 9:45 – 10:15am  

Location: Back of team garages

 

Date: Saturday 22^nd April

Time: 11:20 – 11:40am  

Location: Behind team garages

Note: Signing card required*

 

Date: Sunday 23^rd April

Time: 9:15 – 9:45am  

Location: Back of team garages

 

11:56am – Ever wanted to grab a tour of the garage at a race event? Our T8M8’s get a stack of awesome perks, and garage tours are one of them! Check it out here!

10:34am – Dear Phillip Island, please don’t rain. Tassie provided enough for now thanks!

9:12am – Track Stats:

Length	4.45km
Direction	Anti-Clockwise
Average Speed	174km/h
Top Speed	286km/h
Fastest Point	End of the front straight
Slowest Point	Turn 10
Qualifying Lap Record	Mark Winterbottom – 1:30.6099 – 2013
Race Lap Record	Scott McLaughlin – 1:32.0246 – 2013