SHANE van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway have work ahead of them in tomorrow’s Sandown 500 enduro – and they know it.
It was a scruffy qualifying for SVG earlier today, winding up 19th after twice having laps deleted for track limits violations and also finding himself in the weeds at the exit of Turn 9.
Despite being out of position for the grid, plenty of opportunities await across 161 laps and 500km of racing.
“It wasn’t the best day for us unfortunately,” said van Gisbergen, who is second in the championship.
“I feel sorry for everyone in my team for qualifying so poorly, but hopefully we can make some improvements for tomorrow’s race.
“Richie has been amazing, and his lap times have been super impressive – he’s really fast so it’s a shame we’re not starting further up the grid.
“Our emphasis tomorrow is to have a clean race, and the rest will sort itself out.”
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Stanaway noted: “We still haven’t settled on what we’re going to do with the race set-up tomorrow, but we’ll have a good think about it tonight and hopefully what we roll out with tomorrow is fast over a long run.”
There was also a tinge of disappointment for the other Red Bull Ampol Camaro, which was fifth in the Top 10 Shootout after finishing top three in each of the previous five sessions.
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“Looking at the big picture, it’s been a good day,” said Broc Feeney.
“We were quickest this morning, third in qualifying, but the Shootout was the disappointment. P5 has been our lowest result so far this weekend, but I think we’ve been really competitive all weekend.
“The two Erebus cars have been fast, so we’ll see how we go tomorrow.
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“We obviously didn’t put a good lap together in the Shootout, but we’re still starting on the third row for a 161-lap race so we have a long way to go.
“I’m very keen for tomorrow and I’ve been working towards this race for a long time now. It’s an unknown what it’s going to be like in the race, but I’m looking forward to seeing how Jamie (Whincup, co-driver) goes and hopefully it’s a good day for us.”
Triple Eight’s chief rival, Erebus Motorsport, secured a front-row lockout with Will Brown on pole position.
The wildcard Triple Eight entry of Craig Lowndes and Zane Goddard will start 23rd of 27.
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