Todd Kelly [Holden Racing Team]
“It was a fantastic race. It would have been nice to have a slightly faster car – Skaifey had an awesome car before he had dramas. We’ve got some work to do before tomorrow. There has been glimpses of great speed through the year but this is the first time we’ve been able to turn it into a result. We’ve had the odd drama this year, it’s good to get a result on the board. I didn’t know when it was going to end, I thought taking the new car to Queensland, there couldn’t be much else on the car that could potentially go wrong, and then I went and snapped the gear lever off. It’s great to get through the first race of a round with a win, especially with the reverse grid format.”
Craig Lowndes [Team Betta Electrical]
“You have now seen my worst ever start. Thankfully today's result will overshadow my starting performance. The boys really saved me today putting in a blinder of a pit stop which shows positions are won not only on the track but also in pitlane. The car was brilliant and if I had just a little more grunt it would be absolutely perfect.”
Rick Kelly [Toll HSV Dealer Team]
“We are pleased with that. We were just trickling along trying to get the points up. Unfortunately, on some corners we were drastically slower than other cars, but we had a good car in other areas. We just need to tidy things up with a few changes – not too many – and see how many places we can make up in tomorrow’s reverse grid race.”
Jason Bright [Caterpillar Racing]
"Our hard work during practice really paid off for qualifying and the shoot-out. The car is in top form and we are looking forward to taking our pace into this weekend's three races. It is particularly satisfying to take Pole position on a circuit as technically challenging as this one."
Jamie Whincup [Team Betta Electrical]
“That was the most fun I have had in a V8 Supercar race. I had some great battles and managed to pass all my mates today. Our cars had clearly more grip than anyone else's towards the end of the race and even though the times were slower than at the start the reliability was never in doubt. It is a great start to the weekend and I am actually looking forward to tomorrows reverse grid race after getting a bit of passing practice in today.”
Jason Richards [Tasman Motorsport]
“I had sweat pouring into my eyes and it was fairly stinging in the final few laps. I made a mistake trying to carry a bit much speed into turn three on the last lap and Whincup got by. Apart from that, the pit stop wasn't that great so we were fortunate to get back up to where we finished. The pace was almost as good as the lead cars, probably on par with the FPR car of Bright. But it's a great start to the weekend.”
Mark Winterbottom [Ford Performance Racing]
"The car is quick when the tyres are good, but as soon as the tyres became worn we gained excessive oversteer and lost our drive out of corners. After qualifying second and taking 6th in the shoot-out we felt that we could have finished higher today, but 7th wasn't a bad result considering the problems that I had. Traction is our main issue and we'll do our best to sort that out overnight to ensure a faster package for tomorrow."
James Courtney [Jeld-Wen Motorsport]
“We had a pretty good start to the race but got shuffled by Steven Richards. We lost some time and track position but managed to get it back. The guys did a cracking job with the pit stop today. It would have been good to get out in front of Davison for track position but we didn’t quite get it and this track is quite difficult to pass. We’ve got a lot to work on for tomorrow to find a bit more pace."
