6:00pm – Sandown 500 starting positions:
P4 – JDub/PD Car 88
P19- SVG/Matty Car 97
5:00pm – A much calmer qualifying race 2, thankfully! JDub made up a few positions to 4th, it was nearly a 3rd but he spotted a yellow flag so backed out of the move. SVG had to charge from the rear of the grid, and got up to 19th. It’s been a tough day for the #97 side of the garage. Hear from the boys themselves ahead of the 500km tomorrow:
Jamie Whincup:
“Cauchi (David Cauchi, Race Engineer) did a great job for qualifying, the car was really good. We got held up in the last sector, hence why we were back in seventh, our day was just trying to make amends for that. I’m pretty happy to have made up three spots, I would have liked to have made up more but the competition is unbelievably tough so to move up and make three positions is a good result. The car is not where it needs to be, it’s not a winning car, so we have a bit of work to do tonight to improve it.”
Paul Dumbrell:
“The lack of dry running makes it a bit of a dart board to get the car exactly right for the dry conditions so we’ve got a bit of work to do overnight. We have two 20-lap races that we have a lot of data from and surely we’ll be able to get something better for tomorrow.”
Shane van Gisbergen:
“It was a pretty average day, we struggled all day. We’ll start 19th tomorrow, the car has some speed so it’s not the end of the world but we’re going to have to come up with something overnight to get a faster car. Matty (Matt Campbell) did a good job, it’s just frustrating that he didn’t get to do much racing because of the lap-one incident.”
Matt Campbell:
“It was an interesting day. My race was frustrating as I got turned around on the first lap, I just then cruised around and finished the race. I got a good read of the car and everything like that but we’ll have to have a good look tonight and see how we go tomorrow.”
3:50pm – SVG & JDub are kitting up, the crew are adding the final touches to the cars. We’ll soon be out on the grid.
2:30pm – A terrifying end to the race. So pleased to see Todd Hazelwood walk away from that incident. Our thoughts are with Brad Jones Racing and Tekno.
PD made up some positions to p5 and Matty unfortunately got spun on lap 1 and dropped to the back of the grid. He spent the race tuning up the car for SVG.
1:40pm – We are lined up for the co-driver race 1
11:15am – A wet track at the end to close the qualifying session, Jamie finished p 7 and Shane p16. They will be handing the keys over to PD and Matty for their 20 lap race this afternoon.
10:40am – We are gearing up for qualifying. This will set the grid for the Co-drivers race later today.
10:00am – Will you be on the Team’s time for Bathurst? Our friends at TW Steel have created a 2017 RBHRT Bathurst Limited Edition watch. Get in early 😉 and pre-order yours today!
9:40am – A quick, dry and sunny practice 4. SVG finished 10th and JW 15th. Let’s hope it stays dry or qualifying at 10:50am.
8:00am – It’s time to wake up the beasts, nothing like hearing the engines roar early in the morning. Practice 4 is not far away.
7:30am – Another brisk morning here at Sandown, our retro bombers are doing to trick!
6:30am – We’ve got a big day lined up, setting ourselves up for the big 500 tomorrow!
