Mark Skaife – Holden Racing Team
“The car was great and we did the job today. That’s twice this year we’ve debuted new cars for race wins. I drove it pretty hard and the tyres were ordinary at the end, but we will make a couple of changes tomorrow to see if we can extend tyre life. The new car has shown different characteristics to previous and definitely works better in and out of corners. Win for us was terrific, but there is a couple more races tomorrow and anything can happen”.
Jamie Whincup - TeamVodafone
“My car was good from the start. It balanced out as the race went on and was even better after the safety car period. I thought I might have had a chance to pass Mark (Skaife) after the safety car but I a pushed a little too hard at Turn 9 and ran wide. My goal this year is to be consistent, today’s second place is another positive result but it’s a long championship I am very conscious of not getting ahead of myself.”
Rick Kelly – Toll HSV Dealer Team
“The problem that caused the smoke didn’t affect the car. It is important in those sort of situations that you keep your head down and focus on driving the car rather than what’s wrong with it. We got to the end quite well, finishing third, and we are quite happy with that at the moment. We got a little bit of a gap on Garth (Tander), but we all know he is difficult to beat, so we need to stay in front of him for the rest of the weekend. It was pretty lucky today that Garth put pressure on Todd, as we were able to pull a little gap and get to the end. If Garth wasn’t there, I am sure Todd would have put a lot more pressure on me.”
Todd Kelly – Holden Racing Team
“It was a battle hanging on for fourth place. Brother Rick had an oil leak which finished all over my windscreen. That made it really hard to see by the end of the race. Starting off pole, I got a good jump then got bogged down with wheel spin. That allowed Skaifey and Whincup through and I also copped damaged steering later on the first lap. Coming in fourth place on the grid tomorrow is okay and we will see how we go.”
Garth Tander – Toll HSV Dealer Team
“The car was quite good and looked after its tyres well. We had a good pit stop, which helped us to get past James (Courtney). From then on it was a matter of trying to put pressure on Todd. We would have liked to qualify a bit better, but I got caught in the traffic at the wrong moment. It is just a matter of making a few changes to the car tonight and doing it all again tomorrow.”
Steven Richards – Ford Performance Racing/Castrol Edge
" It is one of the better starts to the weekend which we have had so far this season. The aim of the weekend is to get a solid number of points and we're on track to achieve this. We've got a few things we'll try with the car for tomorrow's races to improve it. I've got a little bit too much understeer at the moment which forces you to drive on the throttle which affects the life of the rear tyres in the long term. If we can get the car's mid-corner turn-in better, I am confident that we will be able to run with the front guys tomorrow."
Russell Ingall – Stone Brothers Racing/Caltex
“We had a good race today but it’s the same old problem; a bad qualifying position makes it all hard work. It was a shame, especially after the first leg of qualifying where we were quickest; the next leg we just couldn’t get enough out of the car. The track is changing a lot as well and the car just didn’t like it in qualifying. In the race, the car was very consistent and we were pretty quick at the end. We had good speed throughout. We probably didn’t have the pace to run with (Jamie) Whincup and (Mark) Skaife but it was pretty encouraging. We are not looking for much; just a couple of tenths that will make all the difference.”
Jason Bright – Fujitsu Racing
“A great result for the team. I was very pleased with our qualifying performance as each time we got quicker and moved up the order. My start wasn't great, but our pit crew was excellent. I was happy to take seventh, but the safety car gave Ingall a chance and although I tried to hold him out, he got through. I had my hands full with Lowndes, so it was great to hold onto eighth. I'm confident that we can improve the car tonight and chase a better result tomorrow.”
![Mark Skaife - HRT Holden Commodore [pic credit: HRT media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/300773.jpg)
