"We had our chance to win the race today, especially after a great pit stop from the Pirtek crew, but it got away from us. Thankfully we managed to finish in the top three and be in a position to make use of some positive changes overnight.
"We delaminated a tyre and I could not hold up Craig (Lowndes) or Garth (Tander) any longer towards the end of the race. I was not worrying about championship points, I just want to try and win the round and go out on a high.
"One lap Craig (Lowndes) tried to pass me at MG and I thought to myself ‘he has to try harder than that’ – the next lap he did! I was about five seconds from coming into the pits because I could feel the tyre getting worse. For me the priority is to ensure that Ford finish 1-2-3 in the championship."
Both Rick Kelly and Russell Ingall added to their teammate’s podium results by finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Kelly has kept the door open for another HSV Dealer Team double-podium, whilst Ingall took a solid points haul and maintains a strong position to win the title.
"I guess we got off the hook a little bit with other people making mistakes. We have a bit to improve – our car wasn’t quite as good as we would have liked. I had a bit more understeer than expected. In all, I think we got off lightly," said Kelly.
"That was not a bad result for us, I think the track will continue to come to us more tomorrow," said Ingall.
"We have a little bit of push and if we can tune that out we will have a rocket ship for the final two races. I was having a decent go, but Richo (Steve Richards) was not doing me any favours and I actually caught a bit of dirt on the straight a couple of times.
"The Caltex crew pulled me in to avoid anything happening between us. I think they know me pretty well and knew a circuit breaker in my head was about to pop. When Todd (Kelly) went down the inside of Richo at turn two I was going to follow him through, but then they got together and I drove past to pick up a couple of spots.
"We just need to keep the momentum going tomorrow before we start making any room for the trophy."
Super Cheap Auto Racing finished well at their home test track with lead driver Greg Murphy and retiring young-gun Paul Weel finishing in sixth and tenth places. As the championship draws to a close after a challenging year for the team, SCAR is looking to finish well at the Grand Finale.
