Jamie Whincup, #1 TeamVodafone Holden Commodore VE (1st place):
“That certainly wasn’t my perfect performance. The start was ordinary; I ran wide and had a wheel lockup which I got away with. Then I stalled coming out of the pit bay which I’m not happy about and will have to go away to have a think about. It’s just a massive, massive effort from our team and one we are immensely proud of. My preparation for each event is simple; I go out to do the best job I can. Some day’s your best isn’t good enough some days it is and the last two weekends our best has been better than anyone else. I am looking forward to the Clipsal 500 in two weeks time. We will go there having already done these last two races which I think will definitely help us prepare for what will be one of the toughest events of the year.”
Garth Tander, #2 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE (did not finish):
“After a reasonably qualifying session the day didn’t turn out the way we’d hope for. The first lap I got turned around by the same car that turned me around in Abu Dhabi – it’s a bit of a common trend and guys like that, that have been in the series long enough should know better. We had changed the car for the race and it was fantastic – at the end of the first lap I was 45 seconds behind the leader and with two laps to go the gap was the same, so we had very good car speed. Then I passed Richo cleanly on the inside and he ‘over and under-ed’ me, which is cool, but then he just ran me straight off the track – his rear wheel hit my front wheel and broke the steering and that was that! It was frustrating because if you pass someone cleanly and they pass you back that’s racing, but have the courtesy of doing it cleanly. The team didn’t get the result it deserved and it’s hurt us in the championship, so we forget about that now. I’ve never won a race in Adelaide, so the focus is to go there and win both races. We’ve got two marquee events coming up in Adelaide and Hamilton so we’ll go on an event by event basis and go for the wins.”
Todd Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel’s Racing Holden Commodore VE (DNF):
“I got a good start and made a few spots on the way down to the first corner and, like yesterday, all I wanted to do was get around and come out the other side and settle into a groove and look after the car. Going into the corner I left over a car-width to the guys on my right and I just didn't want any ‘aggro’ and there was obviously a crash just in front of me. I went straight off the track to avoid it and even still someone got bumped and thrown sideways into the front of my car. I couldn't have done much more than what I did to avoid it. I just can't believe the run we've had over there. We just need to get back home and hopefully we've got rid of all our bad luck here and we have a decent run here at Clipsal. The cars have been good. My car was probably the worst out of the four at Abu Dhabi and this weekend it was probably the best out of the four. It was really good in the race yesterday and would have been an improvement today. We just didn't get to show it. We're chipping away at it. We'll definitely be in contention for the year. For me, I need to qualify better and win races and not focus on the championship too much now because that's pretty much over and out.”
Jason Bright, #14 Trading Post Racing Holden Commodore VE (25th place):
“As far as the first corner goes I haven’t seen any vision but I felt a hit from behind and at the same time got hit in the left front which seemed to break my steering. It all happened too quickly for me to say what exactly happened; I was a bit of a pinball in the middle. We decided then to use the rest of the race as a test session to see what the car was like because we made quite a few changes today. The car was really good as far as I was concerned as good as any car I’ve ever had here even when we won so I’m pretty disappointed. I’d be surprised if any other car had as good a tyre life as we did and I believe we certainly could have worked our way into the top three”
Rick Kelly - #15 Jack Daniel’s Racing Holden Commodore VE (4th place):
“Today was a good race for us. It’s an absolutely fantastic result from where we started. I had a tough start with older rubber and the car that Swenno (David Swenson – engineer) gave me was absolutely faultless. The Jack Daniel’s Commodore was an absolute dream to drive and with the changes we made we could go a little bit further that way to find a little bit more pace. Again we're a little bit late this weekend finding ourselves but at least we did. For both Abu Dhabi and here, when we come back next year we've got a great set-up and we can come back with confidence. I should mention two guys out there. Shane van Gisbergen has an unbelievable amount of talent and he drove extremely smart. He let me go there when I was quicker and he beat me because of it. Very smart stuff. And it was a bummer that Todd hasn't finished because he's done an awesome job so far this year and he deserves a better result.”
Will Davison, #22 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE (6th place):
“All in all I’m really satisfied with today and proud of everyone on the Toll Holden Racing Team for all the hard work and effort they put in to step forward from last week and yesterday. We tried some pretty big things on the car today and I was happy with my qualifying and, to be honest, also with the race I drove. It’s just disappointing we were back in sixth. The first stint I got into second, but the second stint was like yesterday when we put just two tyres on at the stop and lost all balance. We lost time there, but we again came home strong. We’re still not quite there, but we’re closer. I’m satisfied with my performance today, but you want to give more back to the team because they’ve worked really hard. In a way it’s been a good weekend for everyone and now we’re all looking forward to getting home, then getting to Clipsal where I’ve got great memories of last year. We’ll go there full of confidence and, in a way, it’s good to be in an attacking position as if we’ve got car speed I’ll be super aggressive.”
Russell Ingall, #39 Supercheap Auto Racing Holden Commodore VE (13th place):
“We didn’t get to nail it in qualifying, which was disappointing – when you’re back there you’re not going to get to the pointy end. I got caught up again in a first lap melee and dropped back to almost last again so, all-in-all, to get back to 13th was a reasonable fight back. Looking at our lap times in comparison to the guys at the front we easily had a top five car, but it isn’t when you’re not there. We need to pick up our qualifying, and that’s the plan for Adelaide. The upside of this week’s race in Bahrain is that is we’ve found a gain in the car – we’re understanding the new chassis better, we’ve got a lot of good data and another two races under our belts, so now it’s time to get serious. Our second Triple Eight-designed car will be ready for Adelaide and having Murph in the same car will be a massive help.”
Greg Murphy, #51 Castrol EDGE Racing Holden Commodore VE (22nd place):
“Initially the pace of our Castrol EDGE Commodore was quite good, better than yesterday, but it went away too quick. The engine was driving the car into the corners and it had no engine braking, and after a few laps it started tearing up the front tyres. When it did that I had to brake harder to slow the car, then that tore the brakes up. The bonnet clip then came undone and we stopped before the bonnet smashed into the roof, so the problems added up today, which was a shame. From working with the Castrol EDGE team it was a good weekend, for us our year was always going to start in Adelaide with the new car, so we’re looking forward to getting home and shaking down the car before it hits the track in Adelaide.”
Craig Lowndes, #888 TeamVodafone Holden Commodore VE (12th place):
“I got caught out again with my qualifying position and then a bad start put me back in the trouble zone where I had to go around everyone at Turn 1 to avoid an incident. My car balance was good and the first pitstop was great. I was really starting to pick off a few cars in front. I started to experience a problem with the clutch just before the second pitstop which got worse as the race went on and made down changing gears extremely difficult.”