Race 1 Qualifying: 3rd (1:47.8864)
Race 1 Result: 3rd
Race 2 Qualifying: 5th (1:47.7553)
Race 2 Result: 7th
Race 3 Qualifying: 1st (1:46.1667)
Race 3 Result: 1st
Race 4 Qualifying: 11th (1:46.6574)
Race 3 Result: 22nd (DNF)
“I mean, it’s obviously been a hectic few weeks for us, that start we had to the year off track with testing, launching the car, then season kicks off at Sydney with a quick turnaround to the Grand Prix here in Melbourne. We probably just rolled out the truck a little bit slower than we would have liked here, and even though we had a decent Thursday with a podium we then sort of struggled on Friday.”
“Got a pole for Saturday’s race and then transferred that into a win, which was awesome, felt like the results we needed not the one we thought we’d get. There are some fast cars out there, stronger in different parts of the track but every corner there’s someone closing on you and trying a move. Good to be out in front then just need to stay there once we’re there.”
“Sunday, just got caught up in the chaos of Grand Prix racing, it’s often like that here, got turned and have a fair bit of damage to the car which is disappointing. It’s a short turnaround to NZ to get loaded, but I think the car looks okay enough to have a quick repair job, boys will get it back to the workshop to have a look at it.”
“Overall, a bit of a disappointing weekend from us at Red Bull Ampol Racing. Both of our cars showed potential but just really struggled with race pace and that’s when you need it to all come together. So a bit to work on, but looking forward to a doubleheader in NZ.”
“Two rounds down now, bit of racing has happened, I think the Grand Prix is just always chaos and that showed again this weekend. With a short, sharp race everyone’s maybe a little bit more desperate to get up there and get a result. No stops, you can’t really settle into a groove as such. It’s a shame to get caught up in the mix of that today, but I don’t know, we just need to qualify better. I mean, it’s easy to say oh we got caught up in the stuff today but we qualified in P11 and you open yourself up to it down there. So we can’t do that, and we’ll be better when we come back.”
Race 1 Qualifying: 12th (1:48.3343)
Race 1 Result: 8th
Race 2 Qualifying: 10th (1:48.0202)
Race 2 Result: 21st
Race 3 Qualifying: 6th (1:46.5336)
Race 3 Result: 21st
Race 4 Qualifying: 1st (1:46.0195)
Race 4 Result: 2nd
“How good is it coming to Melbourne for the Grand Prix. Since we got here earlier in the week you can feel the excitement among the fans, they’re out and they’re getting around it. Awesome that we can be a part of this each year.”
“Got on track Thursday and to be honest some mixed results, some mistakes and some incidents that happen on track around here with the type of short racing we’re doing. Really exciting to get a pole position and get the monkey off our back yesterday. We had a 6th place qualifying and a pole in the last two race starts so I was really stoked with that, it reversing our fortunes from last season when we weren’t qualifying so well.”
“Today was good, got the start, was able to manage it, but to be honest, Brodie just was too fast. He did a great job, he forced me into my own mistake, and I’m a bit disappointed that I made a rookie error like that. But, you know, he had very good pace and even though I was hoping to win that race we knew the pace that Brodie has and to watch out if he’s anywhere near the back of the car. We’ve been working extremely hard, the off season, the workshop, in our preparation. Going to keeping putting the effort in between now and New Zealand, put in as much effort as we can to come back and really start the turnaround of our Championship.”
“It’s been a tough start to the year regardless of the hard work we’ve been doing. Feels like, to be honest, everyone’s just out there using their doors and their bumpers. That’s pretty much what the racing has come to, it’s that if you can’t get by them easily then just run into them, and that’s what everyone’s doing.”
“So learning, that’s the big thing… that’s the name of the game for us right now. We came out strong and managed to get two out of three wins at SMP but that doesn’t mean that you’re on top of everything. They’re brand new cars for us and there’s a lot of learning to be done.”
“The really positive thing is the what we’re seeing in the Ford with the new aero package, all that has come out as a very strong, strong package and car when it hits the track. It’s strong enough that our main competitors are other Ford teams at the moment. So that means as the Ford homologation team, we’ve done that bit right, but now we just need to work harder to beat our brothers over there (Penrite) and over there (DJR).”
“Over the last four days, unfortunately, Melbourne is one of those ones that, because there’s no pit stops I think a few of the drivers out there forget that we are racing for sheep stations not on PlayStations. Our lads (Broc and Will) know that, they will drive accordingly, but sometimes they get caught up in things that other blokes are getting up to.”
“So look, we do have a quick turnaround for New Zealand and there’s a lot of work to be done on Broc’s car. We do have the option of fixing that rocket, or we do have a spare car. The team worked exceptionally hard to make sure that we did have a spare car for this time in the season should something like this happen so that we’d be ready to race no matter what. So bring on New Zealand and the double header!”