Ahhh, Tasmania, you little stunner. A seemingly quiet, relaxed holiday destination for Australians who want to experience the bitter cold in their own country. And while it might be a holiday destination for some, it is the great boxing ring in Australian motorsport. No, really.
Any of those glorious highlight clips you see on social media or YouTube – there is bound to be a clip from Symmons Plains, front and centre. Most likely courtesy of some high-speed touches, sending anyone in the wrong place, or some of the most grizzly and aggressive passes you’ll find anywhere.
It might be the freezing cold; it might also be the 50-second lap times. It might be the ever-classic Turn 4 hairpin left-hander, with its 300 different racing lines. It might also be the garages, and the best place to enter them (same as taking your boots off when you get home from work – you wouldn’t hear a helmet inside, would you?).
Jokes aside – there is some work to be done. The boys copped a fair old time of it over the ditch, and for only the second time in the Gen-3 era of Supercar racing, a Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro was not on the podium at a race weekend. Bugger.
But we keep rolling with the punches, as they will be coming thick and fast at Symmons Plains. With a year of racing so far, being hugely physical, aggressive, and drawing mixed opinions, qualifying results will be the greatest focus across the weekend. We haven’t even mentioned how tight the Top Ten Shootout on Sunday will be – how good! But don’t take it from this scribe – head below to hear from the boys and how they are feeling for the big trip south:
Will Brown
Driver #1 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing
“I am for sure looking forward to getting down to Tasmania. Obviously, it was a bit of a tougher round for us in New Zealand. So keen to get out on track on Friday. Hopefully, uh, we can bounce back strong and get a win or two out there.”
“Personally, I don’t really look into our history in Tassie. I think every year, racetracks evolve, people evolve, and I think we saw that in New Zealand. Last year, we had a really strong showing there and were fairly dominant, and this year we struggled. So, I just focus more on each meeting as it comes and prepare the best we can for that.”
“I think it’s showing this year how close the times are between everyone, and that’s without getting on a short circuit, like Symmons Plains. The times in qualifying are always close in Tasmania, but they’re going to be even closer this year. So you’re going to have to put your best foot forward, make no mistakes, and qualify right up the front to race up there.”
Broc Feeney
Driver #88 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing
“I’m excited to bounce back with a good weekend. There’s always lots of talk when we don’t have the best of weekends, but I think we made really good progress on Sunday in New Zealand, and we learned a lot. Going to Tasmania, the mindset is the same as usual. It’s not to go there and try and improve a little bit, it’s to go there and win races, which we’ve been able to do in Tasmania for a long time.”
“We were fast there last year, but it’s going to be about qualifying up the front and executing. For me, it’s about getting the ball rolling. I mean, we’ve had an okay start to the year, but our results probably don’t reflect what our pace has been. So, it’s looking to have a good weekend, get some wins on the board, and try and get back to the top of the standings.”
“You can’t rely on previous years. Looking at New Zealand, we went there with something that was similar to last year’s car, and we went away from that. We took a lot of learnings from that, just trying to understand why. I think with the new car, new tires, you know, nothing’s a guarantee anymore. We know we’ve got the best guys in the pit lane, we’ve got the best engineers, so we’ve got to get to work. I felt like we learned a lot from what was a bad weekend last time out. I am just looking forward to getting back to work and getting back to where we should be.”
There is no break from the action this weekend, with the Super 440 format at play – meaning 2x qualifying sessions and 2x sprint races on Saturday, followed by qualifying, the all-important return of the Top Ten Shootout and a strategy race in the afternoon.
Strap up, put your mouthguard in, and get your toes on line, because we are in for a treat this weekend!
