Drivers' Quoteboard: Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 Practice

Craig Lowndes, Red Bull Racing Australia, p1 (combined times):"It's great to be back at the Phillip Island Circuit 12 months after it's been resurfaced because it's had time to settle and all the drivers are having a chance to get their heads around it now. We're happy with the speed we are getting out of the car but we're keeping an eye on the wind direction because it makes a big difference at this track. Our focus this weekend will be making the car as fast as possible and trying to keep up the front of the pack and out of trouble so we give ourselves the best opportunity of coming second in the Championship."

Jamie Whincup, Red Bull Racing Australia, p2:"It's a fast track here at Phillip Island and it's such a different circuit to Bathurst and Gold Coast, it's flat, wide and open, so it takes a bit of time to get your heard around it. The car set up was very good today but I'm not sure how much dry running we'll get this weekend so we'll be doing most of our homework tonight on a wet weather setup. The rain should make things a bit more exciting but it's the same for everyone so we'll do what we do best and race hard in whatever conditions are thrown at us. We're in a fortunate position in the Championship but I'm not a greedy person, so if I'm one point ahead in the final race of the season, I'm a happy man."

Scott McLaughlin, Valvoline Racing GRM, p3:"Most people would [expect the Volvo to be quick here] but at the end of the day I just drive the car as fast as I can and it feels pretty good. These guys did a good job next to me [Lowndes and Whincup] and like Jamie said, it's probably going to rain, so it's probably going to change the ball game a little bit."But at least we know our cars seem quick to drive. We didn't quite have the best day practice wise, we had a few little issues - the first practice the power steering pump almost failed and the engine sort of pretty much stuffed itself in second practice as well, so third practice was really our main goal and go at it, and it felt alright on decent tyres so roll in tomorrow and if it rains it rains, if it doesn't it doesn't."

Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, p5:"We put a set of tyres on and we chased one end of the car, put a different set on and chased the other end of the car! We put a fresh, new, tyre on at the end and that's what we can do with it. We chased our tail a little bit today with not knowing the tyre quality but with a good tyre we pop up fifth. With a little more running on a good tyre tomorrow, hopefully we can improve again."

David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing Team, p6:"Today was a bit of a different day for us and we had our normal car for practice one and a radical setup for practice two and I kind of liked that but I wanted a bit of both really. We went from combination one in the last session and ended up sixth in that session which wasn't too bad so we're just trying to decide what path we go down, whether we use the first setup or the second. It's difficult to figure out but you can't really think about the future too much. I had positives and negatives in both runs so we'll just have to combine them which is kind of hard to do. For a racing car I think our practice two car and for a quali car I think the practice one car but I tried a qualifying run then and I'm still half a second off so I think there will be a few things to change."

Chaz Mostert, Ford Pepsi Max Crew, p7:"Today was a bit up and down and I think we have a bit of work to do overnight. The car's going from side to side at the moment so we're going to try and pick out the strengths and kill the weaknesses so we'll see how we go. Fundamentally the car is there we just have to set it up right so we'll hopefully tune it up overnight and get it ready for tomorrow. Practice two was good, I got P1 but we were on good tyres in practice two so we know that's how we were in that practice and we'll fix it up."

Nick Percat, HHA Racing, p8:

Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team, p9:

James Moffat, Norton Hornets, p10:"It was great to get back in the car, especially here at Phillip Island. It's an enjoyable track."We rolled the car out of the truck and the set-up was pretty close, so we haven't had much to do which has been good. I've been able to concentrate on driving and making small tweaks."We have some good data to go over, and Michael has been fast as well, so it's good to have all the Norton cars going strong. Hopefully we can keep that going tomorrow, whether it rains or shines."

Michael Caruso, Norton Hornets, p11:"It's always good to get back to Phillip Island and have a spin around."The car is going OK, but from where we have been running in the recent past, we're a little off that."We need to work on it overnight, but in saying that, it looks like the conditions are going to be completely different with some wet weather forecasted for the weekend."If it dries out, we'll have a set-up to start with but I think you'll see 25 cars with wet tyres on them tomorrow which will change everything."

Mark Winterbottom, Ford Pepsi Max Crew, p12:"Today was good. We've had a good run but then we started tuning the car and we have tuned it slower rather than quicker. On Friday sometimes you get it right and sometimes you get it wrong and we have the wrong direction today. We'll go back to what we know for tomorrow and hopefully it's quick. We had some good sessions and some bad sessions. We're still trying that's the main thing. You try things and you want them to work but they don't always do."

Scott Pye, Wilson Security Racing DJR, p13:"The car was good today. Everyone had 'green' tyres on for the last run so we are reasonably pleased to finish up in P12. There were a couple of areas we can find those few tenths in so we will be pushing to be inside that Top 10."It is very tight from P3 down, so if we improve the car it won't be unachievable to be in the Top 10."

Todd Kelly, Jack Daniel's Racing, p14:"It was the first time we put a good set of tyres on all day, because we are a bit short of practice rubber this weekend."We were chipping away with the car throughout each session, but the biggest complaint was a general lack of grip with the tyres."When we put the green tyres on, it picked the pace of the car right up, but it induced some other problems that we need to work on tuning wise."If we can get on top of that, I think we're not in too bad a place."

David Wall, Wilson Security Racing DJR, p16:"We have been chasing the balance of the Wilson Security Falcon a bit but everything we have done has delivered improvements. I think I left a little bit on the table on my green tyre run and the splits are showing it was maybe a Top 12 car if came together in every sector. We certainly have a good base today so we will see how we go tomorrow."

Jason Bright, Team BOC, p18:"I don't think we're too bad. This is the sort of track that does suit us. I'd be disappointed if we weren't strong here to be honest. In the second session I had an off at turn one. That's our weakest sector and I had to find out if it was me who was being a bit soft but as soon I tried to go a little bit deeper I was off at 240 kays! It was pretty wild but luckily the grass is dry enough and there's plenty of bitumen there now to wipe off a bit of speed before you hit the grass. It definitely got my attention. In the final session the car was alright but I didn't manage to put a lap together. We left it pretty late to go out and I only got one flyer and didn't do a good job of it. I think we could've easily been in the top 10. All the teams will probably be a little bit stronger tomorrow but I think we've got top 10 pace here."

Jack Perkins, Team JELD-WEN, p20:"It wasn't a bad day, and unfortunately our position probably isn't indicative of our competitiveness, we're only four-tenths off our best teammate in Dave (Reynolds), who is sixth, so it isn't a massive amount of time to find, but we're still a fair way off the leaders. We'll work hard tonight to find some more pace in the Team JELD-WEN Ford and see how we go tomorrow."

Rick Kelly, Jack Daniel's Racing, p21:"It's an interesting one for us, we haven't got the car in the setup window yet."We've been circling around it and learned some stuff, definitely not where we've needed to be, especially on good rubber, which we've had all day."We've just got to chip away and work on some of the problems we've been having."We can learn a bit off the other cars, which is handy, and we need to work out where we need to be."

Dale Wood, Team ADVAM/GB Gal, p24:"The braking issues definitely didn't make it an easy start. I think we've recovered better than the times show. I think the car is quite good. We only got on top of the brake issues in the last session and then I didn't really capitalise on it. I think we should be in a better position come qualifying and the races tomorrow."