1830: A great team and a great effort even though the results didn’t show for it. Eyes forward to sort things out and moving on to Round 5 in Perth. Bring on the night racing!!!
JAMIE WHINCUP – Car #88
Practice 4 – 12th (Fastest Time: 01:30.8099)
Qualifying – 10th (Fastest Time: 01:30.8483)
Race 2 – 12th
Championship – Ninth (679 points)
“It’s an end of a massive fortnight when we look back at the double header and put these two races together. We had a plan but unfortunately sometimes it doesn’t matter how good your plans are if you’re off track you must change your plan to get back on track. It’s been one of the toughest weekends that we’ve done. Sometimes you are struck with bad luck and you don’t quite get the result you want but what this weekend proved is that it’s all about pace. If you don’t have pace, then you aren’t having any fun out there especially when you’ve had that pace. If you’re used to running mid-pack then it’s not so bad but when you’re used to running at the front and you don’t, unfortunately that fun factor is taken out of it for you. We are all about having fun so we want to make sure we will get there. There will be plenty of questions asked next week without a doubt and we’re not going to hide behind them. We need to have an honest debrief when we get back to the workshop on Tuesday afternoon and nut out exactly why we are in the position. As the boss would say assume nothing. And to our supporters we guarantee that our results haven’t been through a lack of trying by the team, it’s possibly been through a lack of direction. We definitely want to get back on track and get back to being the Red Bull Holden Racing team striving to be back out in the front again.”
Shane Van Gisbergen – Car #97
Practice 4 – 21st (Fastest Time: 01:31.4807)
Qualifying – Seventh (Fastest Time: 01:30.5526)
Race 2 – Seventh
Championship – Fourth (802 points)
“That was a tough race and a tough weekend without a doubt. It is made even tougher when you set your own standards and expectations especially after the great run last weekend we had in Tasmania. The whole team have worked hard trying a lot of things on the cars and there were certain times at which it got better but obviously not to where we would like to be. At the end of the day we are a team, we will keep working hard and have some fun along way even if it doesn’t include winning. We will keep at it and just look forward to the next race in Perth.”
1700: We are out with some last words from the drivers.
1530: All pit stops complete without a hiccup.
1515: The race has been a waiting game of strategy and calculations by the noise in on the radio
1445: Made it through the first one now to get through the rest of them.
Clean release and all four tyres! #redbullholden #VASC pic.twitter.com/pqoJ8S1lyw
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 14, 2019
1420: First lap done – hold on for the ride.
1415: Let’s see what the team has come up with – all fingers crossed.
1345: 30 minute signal.
1200: Think we are all in the same boat when we say – what’s going to happen next? Race 2 in just under 2 hours.
1150: The crew has done it, and maybe the drivers too – into the top 10 for the start of race 2 this afternoon.
JDub – P10 — 01:30.8483
SVG – P7 — 01:30.5526
JDub 🎙”Big improvement from yesterday”
Think we’re noticed it too mate. #redbullholden #VASC
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 14, 2019
1140: Not out of the woods yet – here we go!
Q3 coming right up – time to figure out the next step.#redbullholden #VASC pic.twitter.com/Q3jRsRRLbd
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 14, 2019
1135: Q2 done.
1120: Q1 done.
1000: Lots of work behind the scenes no doubt in debrief. Here’s to finding that little something that has gone missing since Tassie.
0950: *silence* – just about sums up the atmosphere in the garage.
JDub – P12 — 01:30.8099
SVG – P21 — 01:31.4807
0920: We are all or nothing again as we head out looking to get into the top 10 for qualifying.
0800: No time mucking around this morning it’s straight into breakfast promotional activities.
Sunday 14 April
JAMIE WHINCUP – Car #88
Practice 3 – Fifth (Fastest Time: 01:30.5028)
Qualifying – 17th (Fastest Time: 01:31.2503)
Race 1 – DNF
“Firstly, we win and lose as a team as we are all in it together. Collectively as a group, we are not performing as well as we would like. We have certainly dropped off quite substantially from last season. There’s no secret, we are not hiding behind it and not saying its bad luck. We’re big advocates of making our own luck and it’s clear we’re not making any luck for ourselves right now. You can call it a slump, but we will fight our way out of it. We have a fantastic group of people that we consider ourselves to be a family and families work hard together to get each other out of a hole. So, that’s exactly what we plan to do.”
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN – Car #97
Practice 3 – 13th (Fastest Time: 01:31.1468)
Qualifying – Ninth (Fastest Time: 01:30.6059)
Race 1 – Sixth
“Qualifying was good. We probably got the most information we have been looking for from the driving in those two 10-minute sessions. However, at the end of the day we were still about one tenth away from where we wanted to be. For the race itself, I wasn’t in a bad starting position but just had a bad start. The bad start then made it challenging to then move up in the positions. Other than the beginning part it was a good race but just too slow again.”
1715: Speaking with the drivers after the race, JDub has summed up the vibe in the garage well.
JDub – DNF
SVG – Sixth
1630: SVG may have just stayed clear – what a race.
Disappointing end for JDub. #redbullholden #VASC https://t.co/MOCsI7agQe
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 13, 2019
1600: A yeah about that.
Nose to tail throughout Lap 1. Let’s see what happens.#redbullholden #VASC pic.twitter.com/rQp3ZFhc11
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 13, 2019
1550: Let’s race!
1405: No doubt data review and debrief will be full of questions and hopefully see the answers in Race 1.
1345: Both drivers have their work cut out for them heading into the race ahead.
JDub – P17 — 01:31.2503
SVG – P9 — 01:30.5698
1340: SVG – P6 after the first round – getting back out onto the track to determine the top 10 grid stops for the race.
1330: Car 88 just ain’t having the need for speed. JDub not making into the next round of Qualy. SVG up next.
JDub in Q1.#redbullholden #VASC pic.twitter.com/PB8kbZOx5p
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 13, 2019
1315: Three part qualifying – JDub first up.
1125: VISITOR ALERT – Taking time out of his busy schedule and making fans a priority – Thanks CL!
1115: Good practice run – here’s to rolling it into qualifying later in the day!
JDUB – P5 — 01:30.5028
SVG – P13 — 01:31.1468
🚩… geese lightening!#redbullholden #VASC pic.twitter.com/Wig1KRDrVp
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 13, 2019
1055: Seems like our friends are back in town.
1039.30: “Rolling out in 30 seconds”
0930: Resting up before hitting the track for Practice 3.
0905: Straight down to business with our merch session.
0700: Busy busy day for the crew and drivers – noticed that we have a visitor today too!
Saturday 13 April
Jamie Whincup – Car #88
Practice 1 – 23rd (Fastest Time: 01:32.6246)
Practice 2 – 11th (Fastest Time: 01:30.9440)
“We are very disappointed with the results as we threw everything into the second practice session to get into the top 10 but we couldn’t do it. We rolled out onto the track without having made any gains from the test day. Today though, we have genuinely come a long way; from P23 in the first practice to P11 in the second practice. This obviously doesn’t change that fact that it’s disappointing having to start the race weekend so far back. Unfortunately, we will now be in the first part of qualifying tomorrow which not only means using another set of tyres but we have set ourselves up for a tough day tomorrow.”
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN – Car #97
Practice 1 – Fifth (Fastest Time: 01:31.7064)
Practice 2 – 10th (Fastest Time: 01:30.9339)
“For us right now, it’s about finding a balance on this track at Phillip Island as it has a lot of high-speed corners and only two low speeds corners. We probably went a little too far for the high-speed corners despite doing well in sectors 1 and 3 but lacked in the middle sector with all the slow speed twisty stuff. Obviously, we need to find a balance. There is a massive gap to P1 so no doubt we will be working extra hard tonight trying to find the areas that need improvement.”
1700: What a day of playing duck… duck… GOOSE! Let’s check in with the drivers after what we already knew was going to be an interesting first day in Phillip Island.
1545: Mixed results for the end of the second practice will no doubt make a tough day for the crew tomorrow.
JDub — P11- 01:30.9440
SVG — P10 – 01:30.9339
1530: Can’t believe it! Another red flag as the wildlife clearly do not want to have us on ‘their’ track.
Hope someone has cleared the track – pushing out for Practice 2 in 1 minute.#redbullholden #VASC
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 12, 2019
1500: Fingers crossed that both bulls make the top 10 – Practice 2 coming up in 10.
1245: Grabbing a quick bite to eat and then back out on track for the practice that counts.
1210: Errrrr… not quite ending the session where we wanted to but still have another round to trial and error later today! Just blame it on the geese.
JDub – P23 — 01:32.6246
SVG – P5 — 01:31.7064
Guilty Culprits! 😂 https://t.co/1RJRurqsyw
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 12, 2019
1150: Lots happening to the cars as they sit in the garage.
Garage work.#redbullholden #VASC pic.twitter.com/FzZ9b9wrkL
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) April 12, 2019
1135: With a little down time in between it’s time to gear up for the practice session.
0900: Straight down to business with our fans in merch alley.
0800: Island life – here we go!
Friday 12 April
