"It was pleasing we were closer to the pace of the Fords today than we were yesterday. I think we’re in good shape for tomorrow, but we’ve got a lot of work to do."
"We were the opposite of Garth and probably detuned the car after qualifying," added Skaife. "Our start wasn’t that great, and then I locked a brake on the first lap. The car speed wasn’t great, but later in the race it was really good.
"We need to be a little more aggressive at the start of the race, but we’re within striking distance of the front runners and with some changes we’re hopeful of better tomorrow."
Will Davison was sixth in his DJR/Jim Beam Ford, with FPR’s Steven Richards and HSV’s Rick Kelly coming in seventh and eighth respectively.
"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.
