R3 - What they said...
29/4/2002 1:18 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Driver quotes from round three of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Eastern Creek Raceway.
MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) – 1st
"Our cars have always worked well here, and we've got a good handle on what makes the tyres work, but we knew it would be tough here and it was.
We were all struggling with tyres, and one little mistake here and you run wide and lose three or four tenths. To have gone from having the biggest crash of my career here to have such a good run is great - this is like a home track for me being an ex-Sydneysider."
MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) – 2nd
“These races just seem to get tougher and the third race was a good example, it was a cracker. In the end I just bought it home to make sure we finished on the podium.
I think we have come a long way as a team in a short amount of time. Good days and races will come and Mark (Skaife) will be second, but he just had too much car speed for us in the second race.”
CRAIG LOWNDES (00 Motorsport) – 3rd
“We really learnt a lot this weekend. Every change we made was an improvement to the car and I’m delighted to have finished on the podium this weekend after qualifying back in 13th place.
We’re back up to fifth in the championship now thanks to some great pit stops by the team which boosted us up the order as the weekend progressed.”
GARTH TANDER (Garry Rogers Motorsport) – 4th
“I’m really pleased with the weekend. The car responded to changes we made on Saturday and Sunday and the car speed was really encouraging again.
I really tried hard to go with Skaifey in the last race but he was flying. In the end I worked hard on preserving both my third place and the tyres.”
JOHN BOWE (OzEmail Racing Team) – 8th
“I battled hard with Paul Radisich in race two and it really took its toll on the tyres. We then made some changes in race three that helped significantly with the tyre life.
This is a great result for the team and is a reflection of what’s going on behind the scenes at OzEmail Racing.”
PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) – 9th
"After a podium finish last weekend, I would have liked to [have] repeated that success, but it wasn’t to be.
I would have liked to push through the field but Eastern Creek is traditionally a very hard track to pass on, so it was always going to be tricky to make my way too far towards the front."
DAVID BESNARD (Caltex Havoline Race Team) – 11th
“We continued to make some good gains over the weekend, unfortunately the wheel getting away cost us.
We made some good ground in today’s second race, but we had to put the ordinary tyres from the opening race back on the car and we just could not continue to make as much ground as we had.”
NEIL CROMPTON (00 Motorsport) – 12th
“It seemed at times that there was an awful lot of sweat and not an awful lot to take home this weekend.
We obviously need to put some more thought into getting the most out of car #27 but at least we’ve got a straight car for the next round along with a handy bundle of points."
STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) – 13th
"Things definitely could have gone better for me today. I just couldn’t go as fast as I would have liked to, so now I’m just thinking about Darwin and doing the business there."
STEVE ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) – 16th
"Today's problems were very disappointing considering how well we qualified and raced yesterday...at least we demonstrated we have the speed to run at the front and hopefully we'll get another chance to do our stuff in Darwin.”
CAMERON McCONVILLE (Lansvale Racing Team) – 17th
"The pit stops today were fantastic – the team did a great job and this made my job much easier. I think we have proven that our race pace is very good, but we need to lift our qualifying performance substantially."
GREG RITTER (Shell Helix Racing) – 20th
"Everything came together in race three today. Ideally a top ten finish would have been great, but I am wrapped that I managed twelfth in a race for my sprint race debut with the team!"
JASON BARGWANNA (Garry Rogers Motorsport) – 22nd
"Yes it was a bit tough on the weekend but we are working hard at getting back up the front.
It was just an amazing effort to get the car on the grid in the first place. That was my highlight for the weekend!”
BRAD JONES (OzEmail Racing Team) – 23rd
“The hit and spin I got in race two really made things difficult to do well but we made a lot of progress on the #21 OzEmail [Falcon] in race two and three and our lap times were much better.”
GLENN SETON (Ford Credit Racing) – 24th
"We really struggled with the new Dunlop control tyre, but following a fourth-quickest time in the morning warm-up, we were confident of moving further up the order.
The engine failure in the final race unfortunately ended any chance of showing that we are making strong gains.”
CAMERON McLEAN (VIP Petfoods Racing) – 31st
"In race three, the car was the most consistent it has been since the start of the season and we now have a direction to follow when it comes to set-up. I'm looking forward to Darwin and we'll be going whatever the system is with pre-qualifying.”
RODNEY FORBES (Data Dot Technology) – 32nd
“This weekend obviously had its difficulties. I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of this season’s car for the next round in Darwin and I’m confident that things will take a turn for the better then.”
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