Keep up-to-date with all the Bathurst 1000 news, with daily updates of the on-track action 👇
Thursday 5/10
Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup – Car #88
Practice 1 – Seventh (02:06.5899)
Practice 2 (co-drivers only) – Sixth (2:06.7823)
Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway – Car #97
Practice 1 – 15th (02:07.4153)
Practice 2 (co-drivers only) – Third (02:06.3842)
Broc Feeney – Car #88
“Overall, it was a decent day for us. It’d hard to know how we’re tracking only being Thursday, but we were inside the top ten for both sessions, and the car is straight which is really important this early in the week. To get the first laps around The Mountain in Gen3 is really important. I think we did what we set out to achieve, it’s just building up and getting used to this car at this track. I think myself and Jamie started to get a little bit of a handle on it – we did some changes and have a bit of stuff to look at overnight to make sure we’re ready for the next practice session and then qualifying tomorrow afternoon.”
Jamie Whincup – Car #88
“We stuck to our plan today. The car is reasonable, and mechanically it was all sound. We worked through our test plan and there’s not a huge amount to report back apart from getting done what we needed to do, and we’re all on track. Conditions were good and the track was clean. It’s going to be a nice cool four days which is perfect for racing. There are big differences between Gen2 and Gen3, the cars are so light coming across the top of the hill, then coming down the car just wants to get air and floats down the hill which massively lets you know you’re alive. The Chase is flat but the car’s moving around so much more. It was a hairy few laps – very enjoyable but it definitely lets you know you’re alive.”.
Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97
“It was a pretty reasonable day. We’ve just been trying to learn the cars all day – there’s less aero but obviously more tyre grip to make up for that. We still have a bit of speed to find, but all three Triple Eight cars are there or thereabouts, but we’ll find out tomorrow in the pre-qualifying session and then in qualifying where we really are. Richie had been pretty comfortable in the car, and racing at Sandown he was really fast but was at a disadvantage because of my bad qualifying. He did a race run and looked pretty strong, and his feedback has been pretty good, so hopefully we keep making the car better and getting a little bit closer.”
Richie Stanaway – Car #97
“The car feels really good. It’s nice to get a feel for it, especially because it was a bit of an unknown with no data from these cars prior to coming into today, so it was really nice to get a feel for it. It’s still early days and we’re still waiting for a lot of track evolution, so we just have to work really hard over the next few days and have a really good race on Sunday.”
Friday 6/10
Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup – Car #88
Practice 3 – Seventh (02:05.6507)
Practice 4 – Ninth (2:05.9106)
Qualifying, Race 24 – Fifth (2:05.0524)
Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway – Car #97
Practice 3 – 19th (02:06.7509)
Practice 4 – 17th (2:06.2563)
Qualifying, Race 24 – Seventh (2:05.1823)
Broc Feeney – Car #88
“The goal from today was to make sure we made the shootout, which we’ve done, so that’s great. It doesn’t really matter if you’re first or tenth, as long as you’ve made it in there. We’re certainly not the quickest car out there, but we’ve been close. We learnt a few things, and it’s just awesome to be in the shootout – my first one. We’ll try and focus on the race car a bit tomorrow and then tune it up for the shootout.”
Jamie Whincup – Car #88
“Overall, both of our cars are in the ten, so that’s fantastic. Of course you want to be faster, but today’s job was to get both cars in the ten, and we did that. Broc was solid all day, and SVG did a great job on the last lap. He wasn’t happy with the car but he dug deep and got us into the ten, so full respect to him. We’ll now work on making the cars quicker. In terms of race pace, we’re not sure on what it will be – I don’t think anyone knows just yet. We’ve got some work to do, but I’m happy we’re in the ten.”
Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97
“I had another pretty disappointing day, but as always I have to thank my team for doing an incredible job with my car again, but it’s been tough out there. The #88 guys are doing a cracking job and we’re working really well together to make sure both cars are competitive before we get to Sunday. At the end of the day, the car is still straight, we’re working through our program, and our excitement is building to Sunday.”
Richie Stanaway – Car #97
“The main objective for today was getting into the shootout, so that’s a box ticked. I’m looking forward to the co-driver session in the morning because today was a light day for me. I think we have some good car speed, so we have to keep working on that and see how we end up on Sunday. I’m comfortable in the car, so we just have to keep moving forward from where we are, but overall I think we’re in a pretty good spot.”
Saturday 7/10
Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup – Car #88
Practice 5 (co-drivers only) – Ninth (02:06.9491)
Practice 6 – First (2:05.5872)
Top Ten Shootout – Second (2:04.7549)
Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway – Car #97
Practice 5 (co-drivers only) – First (02:06.0486)
Practice 6 – Fifth (2:06.2724)
Top Ten Shootout – Sixth (2:04.6671)
Broc Feeney – Car #88
“I was pretty stoked with my shootout lap today. Starting on the front row of Bathurst is pretty awesome. Sitting at the end of pit lane before your lap you get a little bit nervous, but generally I was pretty excited and when you get out there you just do your normal thing. I thought I did a pretty good lap but then Brodie (Kostecki) made us all look a bit silly. He’s been quick all weekend so I knew it was going to be really hard when it got to his lap, but we jumped up three spots so I’m pretty pumped with that, and it’s pretty cool to have the track to yourself for a lap around here.”
Jamie Whincup – Car #88
“Broc did a great job on his shootout lap. I’ve been in the same arena for many years doing that lap so it was quite cool to sit on the outside and appreciate everyone just throwing it on the line. The shootout generally gets quicker as it goes on so there were some serious laps there. Even the guys who were eighth and ninth were throwing it all on the line, so it was really cool to watch. Both of my guys Broc and Shane did a amazing job. The boys both got the most out of it, but congratulations to Brodie and the team who have been absolute standouts and absolutely deserve their pole position.”
Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97
“Our car was pretty good in the last practice session, which is a testament to the hard work by the crew. For now, we’re just really looking forward to the race. It was great to be in top ten shootout again, but honestly I’m just focused on tomorrow’s race. We’ll debrief as a whole team tonight and come up with what setup we want to settle on and what strategy to do. It’s quite different tomorrow with the long stints, soft tyres and long fuel, so we’ll see how we go.”
Richie Stanaway – Car #97
“I think we’re in a good spot for tomorrow. We’ll have to put our heads together tonight and put together a strategy and make sure we have everything planned out accordingly. I’m happy with our run through practice which I think has been pretty flawless. We tried a few different setup variations just to make sure we haven’t left any stones unturned heading into tomorrow. We’re obviously going to go into tomorrow with the best car we think we can put together, but ultimately you never know until the sun starts setting tomorrow afternoon.”
