Craig Lowndes [Team Betta Electrical]
"All the hard work the team has been putting into perfecting our pit stops really paid off this weekend. It was great racing today, Rick had good car pace in some parts of the track and I had it in others. We worked hard early in the weekend to maintain tyre life and that paid dividends in the last half of Race 3 with the car well balanced and very comfortable which allowed me to drive consistently. It is great for the team to be leading the championship but we can't get ahead of ourselves and it is now time for us to refocus on the endurance races. Jamie and I will be testing later this month and we both are looking forward to the longer events. We are now in a good position for the championship and will keep attacking each round in the same way we have done this year."
Rick Kelly [Toll HSV Dealer Team]
“I am really happy with our pace and our position at this time in the season. I think we probably had the pace to win that last race, but I had a problem with the steering. The car was really ‘darty’ into corners after the first yellow. After the second yellow, it got dramatically worse and it was like driving a billycart with all the play in the steering. I was just happy to survive, to be honest. But we are happy with where we are at, and now we will sit down and plan our approach to the endurance races.”
James Courtney [Jeld Wen Motorsport]
“It’s good to be here at the end of the weekend, we were pretty comfortable last round and thought we were up for a podium there but it was taken away from us. The result is good for the guys. They have worked really hard and it’s been a pretty tough start to the year for myself and for them, working hard repairing things. I think we have come on quite strong, we don’t have the car speed that some other guys have but we have been working hard and keeping the elbows out. I thought I had a chance to come out and do well this weekend. I came out here on Monday about five o’clock and did an hours testing in an automatic Ford Focus just to try and get the car placement. I’m really looking forward to running at Sandown and Bathurst with Glenn; we just have to get him a bit more time in the car in the next two weeks at our test.”
Mark Winterbottom [Ford Performance Racing]
"Today was a bit disappointing after getting our high of the weekend a bit early with our 1, 2 qualifying result. My car suffered from tyre degradation during the races but our pace was up there with the best of them on good tyres. I got caught out by the decisions I made during the race, every time I would gain a position I would lose two due to the number of incidents taking place. It wasn't all bad as we came out of the round fifth and I have moved up a spot in the Championship as well."
Lee Holdsworth [Garry Rogers Motorsport]
"It's so great to come out of the weekend in sixth, it didn't start off too well in qualifying but it definitely came together. To dice with Skaife and Lowndes in the revers grid race was really great and Mark came down to the garage afterwards to say I'd done a good job - which means a lot. After the last two rounds I'd lost a little confidence and this has helped so much. The team needed a result so I'm happy to be the one to provide it!"
Jason Bargwanna [WPS Racing]
“Obviously I’m really happy with the result, it was pleasing to have some good pace during the final race. While it’s very pleasing to finish seventh, I could have finished even higher if it wasn’t for spinning on the oil dropped on the track. We continually improved the set up of the car during the weekend and by the end we had a pretty competitive car. Now we have to build on what we have here as we head into the second half of the year.”
Russell Ingall [Caltex Racing]
“It wasn’t one of our better rounds today. There were times in race three when we looked like we were on track for a podium or top five. We made some huge progress with the car in race three and were happy with the set-up. The boys put in a blinder of a pit stop and we picked up some places. But then I was tagged by Tander and it was downhill from there. I missed a gear and tagged Luff and the drive through put an end to it.”
Jason Richards [Tasman Firepower Motorsport]
“It definitely wasn’t the sort of weekend we were looking for. Oran Park is traditionally a place where we’ve been able to couple good speed with good results but this weekend the speed was there but the results weren’t quite what they could have been. We banked a really good first race result, despite a slow sort of a pit stop, and I thought on Sunday we’d be able to keep carrying on that sort of form. But a clash with Will Davison broke the steering and I couldn’t get back to the pits. But the car was quick again in the last race, though I got involved in some more drama and that dropped us back in the order. I’m pretty surprised that after a weekend like that we still finished 10th – in the usual scheme of things a points haul of 180 would usually put you back in the mid to late teens in terms of round result.”
