The 7th round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series was held at Queensland Raceway where I was in need of a solid result. After a disappointing round in Darwin I decided to go for a change of car setup which would prove to be a step in the right direction.

Friday was my first session on the track which consisted of a 2 hour practice session. I approached this session with the objective to develop a consistent race package instead of concentrating on tuning the car for qualifying. Although the overall result of 12th position in practice was disappointing I felt that after several significant changes to the car’s setup I had good pace that would last throughout a 38 lap race.

Saturday morning qualifying was to be one of the most thrilling qualifying events that our sport has ever seen. Out of a 29 car field, 27 cars were separated by less than 1 second on a track that is over 3 km in length! I qualified 13th just 3 tenths of a second behind pole. I was confident we had a good car for the race.

After a lightning start in race 1 our team decided to pit late to take advantage of our quick pace. I was the fastest car on the track and was quickly gaining time on the leading group of cars. The call to pit late was paying off and I had effectively moved up to 6th position. Another wheel gun malfunction in my pit stop cost me critical track position and I ended up rejoining the track in 12th. I had good pace after the pit stop which enabled me to gain back 2 positions before the chequered flag. I finished 10th.

Race 2 looked promising after another brilliant start. I had moved my way up to 7th position and was catching on Mark Skaife in 6th before pitting on lap 10. Unfortunately, it seemed that almost half the field decided to pit on the same lap. My stop was quick but the chain of cars rolling down pit lane past my pit meant that I had to give way before I could exit my pit bay. I re-entered the track in a disappointing 19th position and was only able to gain back 1 position before the end of the race. I felt that the car needed better race pace if I was to redeem some points in the final race.

For race 3 my engineer and I decided we would gamble with a major change to my car. Our decision to do so improved our speed and we were back up to the pace of Mark Winterbottom our race leader. I was able to pit late due to consistent car speed which saw me move from 16th to 10th following a quick pit stop by the GRM boys. I soon caught up to Mark Skaife and Fabian Coulthard but was not able to capitalise on my position for the end of the race.

Following a number of mishaps throughout the weekend for the GRM Team it was a pleasing recovery to finish just 1 spot outside the top 10 in 11th overall for the round. I am satisfied with the consistency I found back in the car for the race after a struggle in the previous round at Darwin. The new tire compound that was recently introduced has changed the setup window for my car but I feel confident that our team are slowly getting back on top of it.

The next round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series will be held at my home track at Winton Raceway in Victoria. This will be one of my best opportunities for victory this year, so be on the lookout for the Valvoline Cummins #33 car.


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