Day One of the Perth Supersprint provided numerous ups and downs for all five of our drivers in both the VCS and DS2. The general consensus amongst the drivers is that, with insight gathered in the practice sessions today and the anticipated overnight set-up changes, we will have all cars performing strongly tomorrow.
Team Manager, Matty Roberts made the following comments:
“Thommy and Cam both had mechanical issues, but the guys rebounded well. Both cars worked through two separate programs, and we saw the most benefit from Thommy in car #55. Cams crew ticked away but did not achieve as much as they would have liked. Both cars missed their green runs unfortunately due to the premature end to the sessions because of Cam Hill hitting the wall at turn four. I think we are confidently in the top 5 with both cars so will utilise our sim analysis to enhance our qualifying prospects. We are really looking forward to tomorrow and a great qualifying session for Cam and Thommy””.
Cam Waters observations were simple:
“We had a pretty good session today; we made a number of changes that provided a great foundation for the weekend. Overall, it was a pretty solid day, Thomas was able to get through several set-up changes which will allow us to review overnight and come out quicker tomorrow”.
Thomas Randle also provided his views on today’s practice session:
“Ï had a little mechanical issue which caused me to lose about a quarter of the session which wasn’t a terrible cause for concern. The team did an amazing job by, firstly finding the issue and then getting it fixed in quick time so I could finish the session strongly. We made some good progress throughout the session, however it’s hard to know where we are now as we didn’t get the opportunity to have a green tyre run at the end of the session. I am really looking forward to seeing what shakes out in tomorrow morning’s practice session and then hopefully we are good to go for qualifying”.
Simon (Simmo), our Team Manager for our DS2 thoughts on the day – “Not exactly what we were looking for work or first day of running roday. Practice one was plagued by an engine oil leak in car #5 and a lack of rear grip with #6 and #55. Unfortunately, insufficient running with car #5 in practice 1 lead to us being a bit on the back foot come practice 2. With Lochie and Rylan still coming to terms with their cars, we were unable to strike the right balance in Friday’s running.
We are, although, confident we can overcome these challenges and have a good crack in qualifying tomorrow morning.
Our DS2 boys all had solid practice sessions. Their insights are below:
Rylan Gray said - “During the two practice sessions today we experienced some rear end issues however, we made some improvements throughout the day and finished practice one in 13th position and 12th in practice 2 so are in the top half of qualifying which is solid. I am looking forward to attempting to qualify as high as possible tomorrow.”
Lachlan Dalton noted - “It was not a terrible day having finished the top 10 in both practice sessions and the car felt good. We still have a little bit to find to be at the front of the pack but with a great set up and race strategy I think we can work our way there”.
Brad Vaughan outlined - “It was an up and down day, practice one we had smoke from oil on the exhaust and rear tyre which limited our run to only completing 6 laps before going on to finish P9 in the second practice. Overall, the car is strong, and I believe we will show great signs of improvement tomorrow”.
Stay tuned for our further updates following tomorrow’s day of qualifying and racing.