It’s been a tough day at the Winton office for the Red Bull Racing Australia team as the day began with two far-from-perfect qualifying sessions.
The Red Bull Holden drivers, Craig and Jamie, started the first race from fourth and 14th on the grid respectively. Despite travelling third for the majority of the race, Lowndesy was unable to hang onto the podium position and finished eighth, while his team-mate clawed back a handful of positions to finish just behind in ninth.
The second of the two qualifying sessions proved even less fruitful, with the No.1 Commodore starting from 21st for the second of the two 100km races, its stable-mate in 23rd.
Despite improvements in setup and grip for both cars, the narrow track didn’t allow for a charge reminiscent of Tasmania last weekend, Craig finishing 16th and Jamie 19th.
“Motorsport is all about adapting to the conditions and that’s the challenge we faced today. It just goes to show, and we’re not surprised, just how competitive the field is,” Jamie said.
“If you’re not quite there with your setup you drop to the back because that’s how competitive it is. We missed the mark today, we’ve got some serious homework to do tonight to turn it all around but we’ve got the right team behind us to do that. The team will all get together tonight and put our best foot forward tomorrow.”
“I think a combination of factors between the track and our car setup contributed towards our results today,” agreed Lowndesy.
“It is a little bit frustrating because we looked after the tyres during the race hoping that we’d have good pace at the end but we didn’t have the drive we need to attack others and we found the track gripped up more so than previous years.
“We definitely improved the car from Race One to Race Two but before tomorrow we need to go another 50 percent again.
“It was great for Lee Holdsworth and Mercedes to get a race win today and have another manufacturer on the podium and I’m sure Betty is happy!”
Check out the telecast schedule here for tomorrow’s qualifying and 200km race, which kick off at 11.20am and 3.30pm respectively.
Oh, and don’t forget the clocks change tonight!
