Keep up-to-date with how the team is making it super at the Sandown 500.
Friday 15/09
Practice 1 – 21st (01:09.8901)
Practice 2 (co-drivers only) – First (01:09.3105)
Practice 3 – 22nd (01:09.5540)
Zane Goddard
“I’m feeling pretty good after today. I feel like we learned a lot. The co-driver session went well, we topped that one which was a great feeling. The last session wasn’t quite what we were looking for but we did try out a few things, so we definitely walked away with some good learnings, although the result wasn’t quite what we were looking for. The team are working hard and the pitstops have been good. Heading into tomorrow, some of the changes we made for the last session we might revert. We’ll see where we are after practice tomorrow to determine our plan for qualifying. Hopefully, we run into tomorrow fast and deliver some good qualifying results.”
Craig Lowndes
“The track is getting a bit old, in the sense that the bitumen is deteriorating a bit, but we knew that coming into today. It is a bumpy track, a low-grip track. With these new cars with lower downforce, they are a little more difficult to drive to get the maximum out of them. But I feel like I’ve had a good day, I’ve enjoyed the progression of today. The sun has been out all day which has meant the weather has been consistent. We’ve learnt a lot, we know that tyres are going to be so important come the race on Sunday, so we’ve been getting a good understanding of that. Zane’s been doing most of the driving in terms of qualifying spec and done a super job. All in all today has been really positive, in saying that we do have a few things we need to work on for tomorrow. It’s been a great day and hopefully, we can deliver some solid results in qualifying.”
Saturday 16/09
Practice 4 – 10th (1:09.0559)
Qualifying, Race 23 – 23rd (01:09.0731)
Craig Lowndes
“I had a relatively short time in the car today, with Zane taking on more track time. I gave it a warmup in practice four and then handed it over to Zane. The plan was for Zane to qualify the car to help him maximise his time in the car. To be honest, I think we have a much better race car than we do qualifying car, and that’s the side I’ve been working on over the past couple of days. I think tyre life will still be a paramount thing to think about and the back of your brain, as the race goes on tomorrow is to look after those tyres. That’s a challenge I am looking forward to. The changes which we as drivers can make on the inside of the cars now is very limited so it really comes down to our steering input, brake input, and throttle input. I am really looking forward to that challenge.”
Zane Goddard
“It wasn’t the ideal outcome for qualifying today. We showed really good promise in practice, but we just couldn’t extract what we were hoping for in qualifying. The team has been working very hard and well together across the event. It’s a shame that practice two and practice four weren’t qualifying. It’s a long day tomorrow and anything can happen in 500-kilometres. The car seems to be quick over a long run but then again no one really knows what their car is going to be like for an extended run like we have tomorrow. Fingers crossed we can deliver a good result.”
Sunday 17/09
Race 23 – Tenth
Craig Lowndes
“It’s an amazing feeling to be finishing in P10. It was a really good feeling coming into this weekend as a bit of a lead in to the Bathurst 1000 but we wanted to still do well. It’s been great having Supercheap Auto on board with the Wildcard. Bringing a collective group together for this round, I think, really shows that it can be done. We’ve brought people together from all different areas and they’ve shown they can get it done under pressure. The pitstops were smooth, driver changes were okay. Zane did a fantastic job to bring it home under a lot of pressure from the primary drivers to bring home a P10 which was really really good. I think the result this weekend is really encouraging heading into Bathurst with the same car, the same group. Zane and I will also take a lot out of this weekend before taking on the mountain.”
Zane Goddard
“To be honest, I’m very tired, that was a tough last stint for me. It’s been a great result for the team who have put so much work into not only this weekend but getting the cars ready back at the workshop. It’s a credit to everyone. Craig made up a crazy amount of positions and then I jumped in at the end. It was hard work especially with the safety car at the end but we hung onto tenth, which is great considering we started in 23rd. A good day overall and I’m just happy we could bring home a solid result for the team. I’m very keen for the Bathurst 1000. It’s obviously the biggest event on the calendar and I’m keen to see what we can do there.”
