Darwin - Day One
As the sun sets on another magnificent day here in Darwin, we reflect on a day that brought mixed results for the team.
Friday of the Betr Darwin Triple Crown was divided into two parts for the Repco Supercars Championship. In the morning, the team had an hour-long practice session, giving everyone a chance to shake off the cobwebs after the recent Perth round. After lunch, we had a 15-minute qualifying session, with everyone battling for the Top 10 spots in tomorrow morning's Shootout.
The morning practice session was very positive for our drivers. Both cars were consistently in the Top 10, and we had a good opportunity to experiment with different set-ups and maximise the session's potential. By the end, Cam and Thomas were 4th and 9th respectively on the timesheets, giving the team confidence for the afternoon qualifying session.
The 15 minutes of afternoon qualifying passed quickly, with mixed results. Cam drove well to qualify in 9th, earning a shot at pole position in tomorrow's Top 10 Shootout. However, Thomas finished 15th after encountering slow traffic during his flying lap. The positive for both drivers is that the cars feel good and appear to have the pace needed to be competitive on race day. The interesting outcome of qualifying was the turnaround in performance from the Chevrolets since the morning practice. They filled 8 of the Top 10 spots by the end of the session.
After qualifying, Chief Engineer, Brad Wischusen, commented:
"We were really pleased with our practice this morning and thought we had identified a few areas of improvement leading into qualifying. Both drivers struggled a bit with traffic on their flying laps, but to be honest, we may have underestimated the track's pace. We will analyse the data tonight and come out firing tomorrow."
Following the qualifying session, the drivers commented:
Thomas Randle: "Not the qualifying result we wanted, but the car feels good. We'll analyse the data tonight and come back stronger tomorrow. Still plenty of racing left this weekend."
Cam Waters: "Happy to be in the Top 10 Shootout tomorrow, but we know there's more pace in the car. We'll fine-tune the setup tonight and aim for pole position in the Shootout."
Watch us again tomorrow on Channel 7, Foxtel or Kayo; the Top Ten Shootout starts at 11:35.
