Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes both logged plenty of miles today as Red Bull Racing Australia hit the track for the Sydney Supersprint which began at the Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday.
Jamie finished second behind David Wall in Practice One, however the #1 Holden Commodore was quickest on the hard tyre posting a best lap of 1:30.8275 with 24 laps in total notched during the session.
Lowndesy managed 25 laps in his opening hour-long run in the #888 car as he worked on a number of set-up changes ending the session in 14th with a time of 1:31.5349.
In the second session Jamie finished in 13th with a 1:30.8443 from 23 laps, however a quicker time was scrubbed after he touched a sensor placed at turn-five. Craig improved his time from the first session logging a 1:30.9878 and completing 23 laps on the harder compound tyre.
What they said:
JAMIE WHINCUP (VF Holden Commodore, Car #1)
Practice One: 2nd (Fastest Lap – 1:30.8275)
Practice Two: 13th (Fastest Lap – 1:30.8443)
“Both practice sessions today were pretty good and the car feels really nice to drive which is promising. Of course we are aware that most of the races this weekend might be in the wet, but we used today as more of a test day. We tried not to worry too much about what the conditions will be like come tomorrow and just get a good balance on the car. We did that and the car was quick. During the second session my quickest time got excluded when I triggered the sensor at turn five. On top of that there were a lot of guys on soft tyres as well, but our initial thoughts are we’re quite competitive which is good to know.”
CRAIG LOWNDES (VF Holden Commodore, Car #888)
Practice One: 14th (Fastest Lap – 1:31.5349)
Practice Two: 19th (Fastest Lap – 1:30.9878)
“It was a bit of a tough day to be honest. We made a number of changes and every change makes the car react in a different way. I just don’t think we got on top of it fully today. We do have direction though and we do understand what we did. I’m looking forward to tomorrow to put it all together. Finishing up 19th wasn’t ideal, but we’ll compare notes and make a plan for tomorrow.”
Action begins tomorrow with practice at 9:55am followed by two qualifying sessions and two 60KM races.
TV schedule available here.
