With the ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootout still to take place for Sunday’s Repco Bathurst 1000 race, fourth on the grid is now the best that Shane van Gisbergen and co-driver Garth Tander can hope for after Friday qualifying. The pairing set the fourth fastest time in difficult wet conditions making it into the top ten shootout, but a stewards decision will see a penalty applied to their #97 car determining their final grid spot on Sunday.
“It was pretty tough conditions out there today,” commented van Gisbergen. “At the end of the day, we made the shootout which was our target, but this variable weather makes it so tough and it’s hard to know if P4 is the right place to be. “
However, in what van Gisbergen described as ‘bizarre’, his contact with Macauley Jones near the end of qualifying will see the current points leader heading into the AMROR ALL Top Ten Shootout with a three grid-spot penalty.
“It was a bizzare ending to Quali making contact with the #96 car.
“From my end I saw him make a big mistake at T1 and go wide so knew his lap was ruined. At Skyline he braked super early and out of the line so I thought he was letting me past. Once I committed over Skyline, that was it!”
The penalty ruling means that Van Gisbergen and Tander cannot start higher than fourth, and could start as low as 13th for Sunday’s 161-lap race.
“Being in the shootout at Bathurst is always a pretty cool experience and an awesome achievement. We had a good wet car to work with which is all credit to the team, so hopefully we can capitalise on this for tomorrow’s practice sessions in the wet.
“I also managed to get a few dry laps in this morning which was good. It looks like Sunday afternoon will be dry, so it’s good for both Garth (Tander) and I to get comfortable.”
The experienced Garth Tander was keeping an eye on the bigger picture of Sunday’s race.
“Today was a very different day compared to yesterday,” said Tander. “Today’s focus was all about full tank running and race preparation. It was important that Shane (van Gisbergen) got a lot of dry running this morning because he didn’t get as much yesterday, so we gave him the majority of Practice 3 and then I jumped in for a bit at the end.
“Overall, the car feels good, the race package is feeling good, and clearly we have a fast car in the rain from what Shane has proven. It looks like I’ll get a bit of wet weather practice tomorrow which is good and then all eyes forward for Sunday’s race.”
Co-drivers will tackle Practice 5 at 10:20am local time (12:20pam NZ time) on Saturday with the ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootout commencing at 5:05pm (7:05pm NZ time).
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