LIVE DIARY: SYMMONS PLAINS

Sunday 9th April

RACE WRAP:

Jamie Whincup – Car #88 Qualifying 2 – First (0:58.3971) Race 2 –  Third Championship Standing – Third (333 points)Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 Qualifying 2 –  Fifth (0:58.9093) Race 2 – Ninth Championship Standing –  First (384 points)

Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “Overall we are happy to come away with a result after a very tough weekend. We are fortunate to have straight cars after a wet and cold Tassie weekend. We didn’t maximise in that final race, we probably should have won that race. We got cleaned up on the outside of the hairpin and lost a spot, and lost another spot after being out-strategised during a pitstop. We have all the ingredients to do better, we will go away with the points that we got, but we will continue to push forward for a better result.” Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “Today didn’t start that well. We lost some time pitting early to avoid a double stack. Whilst I was running behind Todd (Kelly) I saw him lock up and I didn’t think he would make the corner, I wasn’t trying to pass, he just cut in on me. From that I got the penalty, I went to the back of the back, but we managed to push through and salvage something. It is a big shame we didn’t get it right today.”

12:20pm – JDub brings home POLE in the final qualy of the weekend! SVG in P5.

10:10am – Can we get some flippers with our Wings today? We are going to need it!

9:00am – Today’s Supercars signing session has be cancelled due to rain.

8:19am – It comes as no surprise – it’s raining! Tassie has certainly been a wet one.

Saturday 8th April 

RACE WRAP –

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 Practice 3 – Second (0:51.8034) Qualifying 1 – Third (0:57.8153) Race 1 – FIRSTJamie Whincup – Car #88Practice 3 –  10th (0:52.2146) Qualifying 1 – Fifth (0:57.9109) Race 1 – Second

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “So from my end we had a pretty great start. Starts are something I have been working on. I had a great launch and made positions. We inherited the lead early. It is so sad to see what happened, I experienced the spray just following Chaz (Mostert) for that short time and I could hardly see, so for those guys up the back, it was all pretty unavoidable. It is a big shame, and I hear that everyone is relatively ok, so that’s good. I just hope that all the cars can be fixed and everyone is back on track tomorrow to give it a go. It is a pretty ugly end to the day.” Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “What a crazy day. Firstly, our car had pace throughout both practice and qualifying. Come race time, we all saw what happened. Credit to the cars really. There’s a lot to be said, that for all the hard work, the cars are super safe. We aren’t celebrating a one-two-three. All our thoughts are with the other teams. It is what is. We just did our job. We aren’t concerned about the points and numbers. We are here to race, but we didn’t race today.”

2:10pm – SVG claims P3 on the grid with JW in P5 ahead of this afternoons SuperSprint,

1:45pm – Did you even go to a Supercars event if you didn’t get a selfie with Minty? The crew grabbing a selfie at this morning’s autograph session.

1:01pm – They say Melbourne is four seasons in one day – try Tassie! Snap took at our sunny morning pit stop practice session.

12.30pm – A P2 and P10 in the final practice session of the weekend. It was a soaking wet one – but that didn’t stop us!

10:23am – Could be rain on the horizon today as the temp drops on track. Nothin’ like some Symmons Plains in the rain.

8:40am – A double whammy of autograph sessions this morning, kicking off at 9:15am at our merchandise shop.

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Friday 7th April 

PRACTICE WRAP –

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 Practice 1 – THIRD (Fastest Lap: 0:51.2017) Practice 2 – FIRST (Fastest Lap: 0:50.8008) *Practice lap record*Jamie Whincup – Car #88 Practice 1 – FIRST (Fastest Lap: 0:50.9455) Practice 2 – FOURTH (Fastest Lap: 0:51.0428)

Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “Very good day. We started slow on the hard tyre, running through our set program. The car wasn’t great, but we had a whole heap of stuff to try. We ran through it all and learned a lot, when we put it all together we had an awesome car for practice two. We started well, worked through another program, put on some fresh tyres and it was a great run. Today’s result should be fairly representative of the weekend hopefully.” Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “Great run today. We were there or thereabouts, there is plenty of items to action overnight, but we clocked some really great times. The car feels good, we had an awesome practice one but could have been a bit quicker in practice two, it was super competitive up the top there. Looking forward to heading into tomorrow strong.”

1:12pm – The boys knock out a stellar practice with JW in P1, SVG P3. One more session this afternoon

11:23am – We are trialing RED numbers today for SVG. You might have noticed the purple at Clipsal practice. VASC are testing the waters – and we think we like this one best!

10:30am – Head over to our merch tent on track today and tomorrow to catch the boys!

8:11am – A foggy start to the morning here at Symmons Plains. Pit Stop Practice is still in full swing!

Thursday 6th April 

1:12pm – Set-up is running smoothly. Now who’s a pretty girl?

12:34pm – DID YOU KNOW – Triple Eight has had the top point-scoring driver for last 4 VASC rounds in a row (2016 Gold Coast, Pukekohe, Sydney, 2017 Adelaide – all SVG) and seven of last nine since Townsville last year.

11:21am – FAST FACT – Triple Eight has won seven of the last eight races at Symmons Plains and Triple Eight-built cars have won the last 8 races in a row (Davison TEKNO car won Sunday last year).

9:12am – View from the top. Time to set up the garage ahead of the weekend.

Wednesday 6th April

10:32am – Our Friends at Holden are here to help. Holdens deepest sympathy and condolences go out to all those impacted by Cyclone Debbie and the floods.

Holdens deepest sympathy and condolences go out to all those impacted by Cyclone Debbie and the floods.
They have a small number of loan cars available for those impacted in the Airlie Beach/Proserpine and Lismore regions, and would love to help out.  If you need a vehicle please send a direct message to Holden via Facebook with your name, mobile number, location and requirements and they will do their best to help.

 

8:03am – Travel Day! We are off to Symmons Plains today.

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Tuesday 4th April

6:13pm – Throwback to last years round.

3:24pm – FAST FACT – Triple Eight holds the record of most poles at Symmons Plains by any team, 10, and has taken eight of the last 10 on offer in Tasmania.

12:01pm – CAUCHI ON SYMMONS – “Although AGP was not very successful results-wise, we learnt a lot about the Super Soft tyre which we will be racing on for the first time in a Championship round. We could see some weather as well which always shakes things up.”

10:03am – There is plenty of chances to grab your favourite driver over the weekend.

 

Date: Thursday 6^th April

Time: 4:15pm-4:45pm

Location: The Mall, Brisbane St, Launceston

 

Date: Friday 7^th April

Time: 10:30 – 10:50am  

Location: RBHRT merchandise shop, on track

Note: Signing card required*

 

Date: Saturday 8^th April

Time: 9:15 – 9:35am  

Location: RBHRT merchandise shop, on track

Note: Signing card required*

 

Date: Saturday 8^th April

Time: 9:45 – 10:15am  

Location: Behind team garages

 

Date: Sunday 9^th April

Time: 9:45 – 10:15am  

Location: Behind team garages

 

THE STATS:

Tasmania SuperSprint

Circuit length: 2.4km

Circuit direction: Anticlockwise

Average speed: 167km/h

Maximum speed: 270km/h

Fastest point: Back straight

Slowest point: Turn 4, Hairpin

Average speed: 139km/h