1615 This is how they went:
Jamie Whincup – Car #1
Practice 1 – Fifth (Fastest Time: 0:51.0383)
Practice 2 – First (Fastest Time: 0:50.5609*)
*Practice Lap Record
“Our day was on track, we focused on making the cars go quick in practice today. We ran through our plan, and it all seemed on track, we made gains as the practice sessions went on. The new Commodore has done well at this track, it’s a tight, quick and short track and most of the Holdens are performing which is positive. Tomorrow we’ll run through the new qualifying format but both Shane and I are in the top 10 so we can skip the first part of that.”
Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97
Practice 1 – First (Fastest Time: 0:50.7894)
Practice 2 – Fifth (Fastest Time: 0:50.7199)
“Today’s sessions went really well until the last run this afternoon. We had a pretty good car all day, it’s been quite nice and going quite well but on the new tyre run we just didn’t maximise that. That’s okay, we got in the top 10 which is what we needed to do with the new qualifying format. All of us have pretty fast cars which is good, it seems like the new car is going well and I think most Holdens are quick so everyone must be doing a pretty good job. This track is amazing, it’s so tight between every car which makes it pretty cool.”
1550 J-Dub goes one up and takes SVG’s practice lap record – nice one team! The longer 45-minute sessions are up and down which this time featured a toilet break and J-Dub taking the scenic route. It all worked out in the end and we get to skip Qualifying Part 1 tomorrow and go straight to Qualifying Part 2.
1505 Practice 2 begins, we need to stay up top to so we can put our feet up through Qualifying Part 1, straight to Part 2.
1225 Practice 1 done. Our bulls went well – SVG going extremely well breaking his own Practice Lap Record with a 0:50.7894 around Symmons Plains. J-Dub came in at P5. We have a merchandise store visit before a quick break before Practice 2 at 3:00pm.
0900 Right, so now we have our heads around the concept of the new qualifying format, we’re happy to explain below to make it a little easier for you:
Practice 1 & 2
These 45-minute practice sessions will hold a greater weight than normal with the Top 10 drivers of the combined practice sessions going straight to Qualifying Part 2.
Drivers who finish P11 – P26 in Practice will have to go to Qualifying Part 1.
Qualifying Part 1 (10 mins)
The P11-P26 from combined practice sessions. The Top 6 here will go to Qualifying Part 2. The remaining 10 drivers will fill the bottom over the grid (P17-P26).
Qualifying Part 2 (10 mins)
The Top 10 from combined practice sessions + Top 6 from Qualifying Part 1 battle it out. The Top 10 here will go to Qualifying Part 3. The remaining six drivers will fill out P11-P16.
Qualifying Part 3 (10 mins)
The Top 10 from Qualifying Part 2 battle it out to determine the grid positions of P1-P10.
Phew, got that? The same thing will happen on Sunday but with a much smaller 20-minute practice session that morning to kick it off.
0700 Hey Tassie! You’ve put the weather on for us (touch wood)… Today we’re set for some long practice sessions so we can get the bulls ready for the three-part qualifying sessions tomorrow – yep, we have to record some decent times in practice to have a good chance in qualifying – more on that later.
