"I wanted to aim for sixth in that race. Initially we probably had the car to get there but we struggled in a couple of places for a bit of mid corner speed," Rick explained. "Unfortunately that hurt us a little bit.
"We have an extremely good car through turns one and two though which allows us to pass people into turn three. All-in-all it was a pretty promising day for us, from fifteenth to eighth is a good start. If we can move back into the top five in tomorrow's first race it will put us in a good position again."
Jamie Whincup and Lee Holdsworth rounded out the top ten, the former having been as high as fourth before yet another racing incident with Will Davison dropped him five places.
"Our pitstop strategy was good. After the stop I was in fourth position just behind Craig, so the race was there for the taking. Unfortunately I got involved in yet another racing incident which sent me back five spots. Tonight the guys and I will spend some time sorting out some minor handling issues so I can hopefully move forward tomorrow," stated Whincup.
Paul Dumbrell and Paul Morris finished just outside the top ten in eleventh and twelfth.
Dumbrell had a good start and after being relegated to 20th for missing the scales in qualifying, was pretty pleased to have fought his way back, gaining eight places in the opening few laps.
"It was pretty good (the start) and it is something I have been working on over the last few rounds," noted the HSV Dealer Team man. "I have been reasonably good the last couple of years but have dropped the ball lately and it has been good to see what I have been working on has paid dividends after a disappointing qualifying having missed the scales."
The Queensland 400 will now conclude tomorrow [Sunday] with the final two 38-lap V8 Supercar races to be held at 11.00am and 1.40pm [all times local].
To see the race 1 result in full,
click here
