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00:00:00Welcome back.
00:00:04This is one of the spectacular sideshows of the Clipsaw 500.
00:00:07This is 45-year-old self-made multi-millionaire Ken Block
00:00:11who now makes his living, or gets his kicks really,
00:00:14out of scaring the life out of professional drivers like Will Davison.
00:00:18Here in the Ford Fiesta, he goes nuts.
00:00:20Now, a few years ago, Ken actually jumped a rally car.
00:00:23His friend filmed it. The clip went viral.
00:00:26Three years later, it has had more than 29 million hits.
00:00:30He's putting on a great show for the big crowds here at the Clipsaw 500.
00:00:34Speaking of that, it is the 15th year of this event.
00:00:37It's a Hall of Fame event.
00:00:38And to give you an idea of the scale and size of this thing,
00:00:42yesterday, 45,000 people came through the gates.
00:00:45Across the four days, more than a quarter of a million people will be here.
00:00:50Now, we may go close to nudging the record crowd set back in 2008
00:00:54of 291,400 people, which remains to this day
00:01:00a record for a domestic motorsport event in Australia.
00:01:04This is massive.
00:01:05We've got qualifying coming up in the V8 supercars very shortly.
00:01:08With that in mind, let's check in with Larko.
00:01:11Hey, Matty, how cool do these Holden Racing Team cars look?
00:01:13Sort of a bit of an old-type delivery.
00:01:15I love it. Actually, I reckon it's really groovy.
00:01:17One of the things that's happening this weekend that we need to talk about
00:01:19is what I call pioneering.
00:01:21Because everything is so new, there is a lot of pioneering going on.
00:01:25You heard Neil talk a little earlier about the cars are a little bit more like race cars,
00:01:29particularly in the rear suspension, which we'll show you over the course of the weekend.
00:01:32Everything's a little more nimble, a little more refined.
00:01:35So what we don't know is what's going to happen here this weekend,
00:01:38because there's been 20,000 kilometres of testing done, but no racing.
00:01:42They've had the cars and the prototypes at six different tracks.
00:01:45They know just about everything about these cars,
00:01:47but they don't know what's going to happen when they go out here this afternoon
00:01:51and they bang wheels together. Sorry, tomorrow in the race.
00:01:53What's going to happen when they bang walls?
00:01:55They touch the wall at turn eight.
00:01:57What's going to happen when they're behind a safety car, for example?
00:01:59Fifteen cars in front of you.
00:02:00What's going to happen with the temperatures with all the new air intakes and what have you?
00:02:04What's going to happen? Here we are. Look, wheels, a good example.
00:02:07There's an 18 inch and a 17 inch wheel, old and new.
00:02:11And whilst they're a similar circumference, if you look here,
00:02:14there's a lot of tyre bag there and less tyre bag here.
00:02:17We know they dinted all these wheels last year by banging on the kerbs.
00:02:20What's going to happen this year with less flexibility here?
00:02:23They're just some of the unknown things.
00:02:25And more than anything from the driver's seat, the tunability, the race ability of the car,
00:02:29don't know. Can't wait.
00:02:31Absolutely, Larko.
00:02:32We've got perfect conditions for qualifying coming up around 24 degrees at the moment,
00:02:36a maximum of 27 or 28.
00:02:38It's going to get hotter across the weekend.
00:02:40Holden has won 12 out of the 17 pole positions here at the Clipsal 500.
00:02:45Who will take it this time around? Qualifying next.
00:02:48The level of commitment that's required to qualify that car at Clipsal is 110%.
00:03:00I think it's going to be the world's fastest outlap.
00:03:02Everyone's going to be on it straight away as soon as the green light comes on at the end of pit lane.
00:03:06I think there's not really going to be a lot of time for emotions and enjoying the moment.
00:03:09It's just a matter of bang, who's P1 straight away?
00:03:12Lowndes goes to the top.
00:03:14Oh, he gets away.
00:03:15With a new car we're going to have to take massive risks.
00:03:19We've got these beautiful polished new liveries and for sure there's going to be some scratches down the sides.
00:03:24Everyone's going to be pushing like crazy.
00:03:25They want to put their mark, their manufacturer ahead of the others.
00:03:28We're never going to have a true indication of where everyone's speed is until that very moment.
00:03:32We're going to put it all on the line.
00:03:34That's what our job is and I can't wait.
00:03:49This is a landmark day in Australian motorsport.
00:03:51The day where everything has changed for V8 supercars.
00:03:5528 brand new cars unveiled today.
00:03:58They've been through four practice sessions.
00:04:00We've got Nissan and Mercedes on the grid as well and now the intensity level goes up a notch.
00:04:06In fact, it goes up a heap because qualifying is about to get underway.
00:04:11That will roll into a top 10 shootout and we'll decide the very first pole sitter in this new era of V8 supercars.
00:04:18It's a big year, 14 events, 36 races and this is where we start like we have been for so long.
00:04:25We first did it back in 1999, the Eclipsal 500.
00:04:28It's a mix of street circuits and the Parkland circuit.
00:04:31It's 700 metres shorter in the X Formula One Grand Prix circuit.
00:04:35It's a ripper, Neil.
00:04:37Neil, and in qualifying our focus will be calling the sector splits.
00:04:41So that first timing intermediate is up between turns six and seven at the end of that yellow section there.
00:04:47The middle sector in red takes you down to the braking approach to the hairpin at turn nine.
00:04:52We'll be making reference to that time and that final sector is critical as well and quite complex to get right here.
00:04:57So 3.2 kilometres, 14 corners.
00:05:00Curious one, guys, that have just discovered the fastest man of the weekend so far in practice for that last session that we saw.
00:05:07Mark Winterbottom, a 1.21.1.
00:05:10Went back to 2012, the combined practice sessions.
00:05:13Who was the fastest man and what was the time?
00:05:16Mark Winterbottom, 1.21.1.
00:05:18So we've thrown all the marbles up in the sky and they've all dropped back down on the ground
00:05:23and we've had a look at the stopwatch at the end of it all.
00:05:26The exit is now open.
00:05:28The session is officially underway for qualifying our first for 2013.
00:05:32But the object of the exercise wasn't to necessarily make faster cars,
00:05:36it was to make modern, safer cars.
00:05:39And so in their first blush, in practice at least,
00:05:43they've come out and done pretty much the same sort of speed.
00:05:45They were fractionally quicker seasonally corrected at Eastern Creek
00:05:50if you take into account the warm temperatures out there a couple of weeks ago
00:05:54versus the cool attempts when we raced there in August last year.
00:05:58We're expecting as they learn the cars for them to be just a fraction quicker than our previous models.
00:06:06The qualifying record belongs to Jamie Winkup set last year, 120.535.
00:06:16That tumble, we are expecting a lap record to go.
00:06:20Although, like you say, Cromley, things have sort of settled back to where they were last year.
00:06:26Qualifying last year, not the shootout, but the equivalent qualifying, the best time we saw was from Mark Winterbottom.
00:06:32He did a 1 minute 20.81.
00:06:36So now, because what happens in practice is you both know, everyone talks about what tyres they were on and they weren't so good
00:06:42and the guy down the road had the best ones known to man.
00:06:45But now in qualifying, everyone's on the same tyre, so there's nowhere to hide.
00:06:49You've got to try and find some track space. Remember, it's only 20 minutes. It's hard work.
00:06:54You've got to really work, particularly at this track, to make sure that you've got space.
00:06:58And then you just cycle the temp and the pressure in the tyre to be just right at just the right time.
00:07:02That combination of management and engineering in at Red Bull has been where all the action's been in recent years.
00:07:09And great success, Adrian Burgess in the centre, Mark Dutton on the left, Jeremy Moore on the right.
00:07:14Dutton engineering wind cup and more engineering lands.
00:07:20There you go, Mark Dutton gives the word to his charge, Jamie Windcup.
00:07:24We've got six FG Falcons out there, 15 VF Commodores, four Nissan Altimas and, of course, three E63 AMG Mercedes-Benz.
00:07:32Little change for the eagle eyes of you out there in Ford Performance Racing.
00:07:36James Small, who did look after David Reynolds last year, has been moved on to the number five car with Mark Winterbottom.
00:07:42So he's engineering that car.
00:07:44Graham McPherson stays with Will Davison as we join Jamie Windcup turning in.
00:07:48Oh, and struggling at the end of Wakefield Street at Turn 4.
00:07:51Had a big mid-corner push.
00:07:53It was a lot of understeer.
00:07:54You could see feet in the steering wheel at the car.
00:07:57And it wasn't totally responding.
00:07:59This is Tim Slade.
00:08:03He's heading down towards Turn 8.
00:08:05The guardrail on the inside.
00:08:07And the curb there, that's Ryan Madison in the middle.
00:08:10He's the CEO of Erebus Motorsport.
00:08:12Betty Clemenco, the team owner of Erebus Motorsport, shed a few tears.
00:08:17She is an absolute character.
00:08:19It's not often that a team owner can have as many requests for photos and autographs
00:08:24and have I just come and see you than a driver.
00:08:27But that's the impact that Betty's had on this sport.
00:08:30She wants to leave her own footprint on Australian motorsport.
00:08:34She's in this for the long haul.
00:08:37She's doing it the right way.
00:08:41And the gentleman sitting in between Ryan Madison and Ross Stone was Dave Stewart,
00:08:46who's been basically the head of that whole project in converting those Falcons from Stone
00:08:51Brothers last year into Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG model.
00:08:57So he's worked very, very hard.
00:09:00And Erebus has had enormous success in the Australian GT Championship.
00:09:04They love their motorsport, but they were completely nervous yesterday when I went down there,
00:09:09and had a good chat to them and were really jittery about what was ahead.
00:09:13Just keep the cars out there.
00:09:14Let's just get through the first couple of days and let's just get our foot in the door here
00:09:18and then we can concentrate on going racing and getting results.
00:09:21And they know how big the learning curve is.
00:09:24It's a very steep learning curve to come from the categories that have been racing
00:09:28to the preeminent motorsport category in this part of the world.
00:09:32And to go up against these guys like NPR or Triple Eight or HRT,
00:09:36they know that this is professional, hardcore motorsport now.
00:09:41Tanda's been up and down the charts this weekend.
00:09:44He's just gone fastest at 1 minute 21.8 as the dual world MotoGP champion Casey Stoner,
00:09:50who's in the Dunlop series this weekend.
00:09:52He's watching in the garage.
00:09:53And Tanda has been pretty consistent here this weekend.
00:09:57So he's just set a new benchmark for them all to chase.
00:10:00Don't forget later this afternoon on 7 Sport,
00:10:03you'll see Casey's V8 supercar to do a drive live.
00:10:06He's qualified mid-pack.
00:10:08He's going to have his hands full in the Red Bull Racing Australia Commodore.
00:10:12OK mate, do you want to have another go at it or not?
00:10:18So that was the voice of Scott Sinclair.
00:10:20Speaking to Garth Tander, the shuffle.
00:10:27It's a shuffle of the engineering group down there as well.
00:10:29So Jason Bush and Scott Sinclair are working together with Garth Tander.
00:10:34I saw Jason Bush bumbling around the back of the Spa F1 circuit in September last year
00:10:40with his girlfriend watching Formula 1 cars.
00:10:42So he took a year away from the sport.
00:10:44And next time I saw him was down there this morning back on the laptop.
00:10:49He worked for me for a long time.
00:10:51He's a very bright young guy.
00:10:52And he'll be, I think, a very good addition to that program
00:10:56in terms of his engineering abilities.
00:10:58A very committed and clever young man.
00:11:01So that engineering shake-up there may actually pay some dividends,
00:11:04especially for James Courtney with Rob Starr on the radio to him.
00:11:09This man in the SP Tools E63 AMG is Mauro Engel.
00:11:15He really represents the true international mix and flavour now
00:11:19at the V8 Supercar Championship.
00:11:21He's spent a lot of years in the DTM Series in Germany.
00:11:24He was born in Munich.
00:11:25He was raised and lives in Monaco and now resides on the Gold Coast
00:11:29and is driving the Mercedes badge car in the V8 Supercar Championship.
00:11:34What a mix.
00:11:35Matt, it's a totally new look for Ford Performance Racing.
00:11:38Now Pepsi Max team and Tim Edwards.
00:11:40For you guys, you know, it's important to get the big spring forward this year,
00:11:43starting off here at Clipson.
00:11:45Oh, it is.
00:11:46But you know what?
00:11:47We've all come here with cars that are probably 70%, 80% developed.
00:11:50So every single time we go on track now we're learning.
00:11:53I mean, we came here last year and if the car was understeering or oversteering,
00:11:57you had a little toolbox of things that you knew what to do to fix it.
00:12:00This year we're going, well, should we try this or should we try that?
00:12:03Because we really, you know, it's all new.
00:12:06So every time we go on track we're learning.
00:12:08It's tricky, Tim.
00:12:09I get the feeling from you guys being around the team and the launches
00:12:12that getting that championship is all important this year.
00:12:14You are really chasing it pretty hard.
00:12:16Absolutely.
00:12:17I mean, we're desperate for it.
00:12:18You know, we came out strong at the start of last year
00:12:21and Triple 8 came back at us, you know, in the middle of the year
00:12:24and then by the end we got back again and, you know,
00:12:27we all saw what happened last year.
00:12:28But, yeah, I'm sure we've got to go one better this year.
00:12:31We've got to win the championship
00:12:33and we're going to do everything we can to try and do that.
00:12:35It's going to be an exciting year.
00:12:36All the best, Tim.
00:12:37Thanks, mate.
00:12:38Tim Edwards making the observation there down at Ford Performance Racing
00:12:41about the known box of tricks and the tools that you had at your fingertips
00:12:44to make the cars go quicker.
00:12:46There are a lot of things that are going to change in what you hear at home
00:12:50and the visual cues that you get from watching V8 Supercars.
00:12:53For example, for years we've watched these little,
00:12:55what we've described as rear roll centre adjustments made on the run.
00:12:58You've seen them with the speed braces just quickly adjusting those cars
00:13:03to the driver's satisfaction.
00:13:04Well, with the independent rear suspension
00:13:06that's something you're not going to see anymore.
00:13:08You can't shake the rear roll centre without bringing the car into the garage
00:13:10and taking a significant amount of time to do it.
00:13:13You're not going to do that in the middle of the race.
00:13:14The gear shift looks different this year.
00:13:17The sound, as you can hear, is different.
00:13:20The Larry bar's gone.
00:13:21The filaments in the screen heaters gone.
00:13:26New digital readout on the dashboard of the car
00:13:28as a part of the entire Motec engine control unit,
00:13:31the electronics in the car.
00:13:33So drivers, for example, apart from learning a car,
00:13:35are learning about all the new ergonomic elements of the car.
00:13:38So just to look at the information you get from your dash now
00:13:41and how you program that to your satisfaction
00:13:44and there are some upgrades coming for that a little bit later in the year.
00:13:47All really important things because your race car ends up
00:13:50like being a favourite item of clothing.
00:13:53You just pull it on and you know it inside out.
00:13:55When you start with a new car like this,
00:13:57you've got to try and learn the new rhythm
00:13:59and all the little visual cues and clues within it
00:14:02and it really changes your work rate
00:14:04and how you get the most out of it.
00:14:06As Tim said, there's still a fair way to go
00:14:08with everybody squeezing the max out of them.
00:14:10And they achieve their speed differently.
00:14:12They're more Porsche-like in terms of getting
00:14:14around the middle of the corner faster.
00:14:16They get to the corner better.
00:14:17They get around the middle of the corner faster.
00:14:19And all the old, what I call the old technology
00:14:22that was in the previous cars
00:14:24have been replaced by new stuff that you've got to tweak.
00:14:27So the way that you actually go about that,
00:14:29what you're explaining is it's a whole new box of tricks.
00:14:32And to be able to go and do that well, even for the drivers,
00:14:35the way that the sway bars work,
00:14:37how much that will actually play a massive part
00:14:40in these races over the weekend.
00:14:42Because you won't be able to do the roll centre change
00:14:44that Neil was referring to,
00:14:45you'll only be making sway bar changes.
00:14:47Water brakes are gone.
00:14:48Yeah.
00:14:49So they've come into pits in recent years
00:14:51and they've jumped on and stuck the hose on and filled up.
00:14:54Rod Nash is now one of the new co-owners of Ford Performance Racing.
00:14:57On screen there at the moment.
00:14:59We'll talk about that in a moment.
00:15:00But you whack the water on
00:15:02and then you change the amount of water
00:15:04that you're injecting into the brake ducts
00:15:06to change the rate of cooling in the brake here.
00:15:08That's gone.
00:15:09Also gone is the mixture control.
00:15:12And you know, some of you that watch our V8 supercar races
00:15:15intently know that the whole business of fuel efficiency
00:15:18and economy in races last year had a big impact.
00:15:21Well, now you can't do it.
00:15:22You've got to make sure that all those things
00:15:24are set correctly in the garage.
00:15:26You can't start to lean them out
00:15:27or reach them up during the race.
00:15:32So Shane Van Gisbergen leads the way.
00:15:34We're looking at Scott Pike.
00:15:35You can see they're 26th on the ladder.
00:15:37The Ecole Commodore out of Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.
00:15:41This is a really interesting story at the top of the leaderboard.
00:15:44As Pike completes his lap.
00:15:46A green box indicates a good second sector.
00:15:49And he moves up to fourth.
00:15:50Great job.
00:15:51Great job.
00:15:52That's a stellar job from the youngster.
00:15:53But Van Gisbergen has done the fastest first sector time.
00:15:57On this lap, he leads the way with a 1.21.23.
00:16:01We zero in on Fabian Coulthard.
00:16:03The Lockwood entry, car number 14.
00:16:06He's inside the top five.
00:16:08So they're all trying to get inside that top ten
00:16:10and be there for the shooter.
00:16:12Fabian goes up to third.
00:16:14So it's Van Gisbergen, Wind Cup, Coulthard, Winnebottom.
00:16:18Davison now slots into third for the Pepsi Max crew.
00:16:22FPR Ford.
00:16:23They're doing a double act out there on the streets.
00:16:26But what about Shane Van Gisbergen?
00:16:28Now 1.21.227.
00:16:30He left Stone Brothers Racing in controversial circumstances.
00:16:34Was meant to have a year off V8 supercars.
00:16:38Citing personal problems.
00:16:40He's now popped up back.
00:16:42The other side of the fence at Techno Autosports
00:16:44with VIP Petfoods backing as Craig Lowndes goes to the top.
00:16:48And Scott McLaughlin goes to second.
00:16:50So Van Gisbergen's got a bit of a target on his back at the moment.
00:16:54He's out there responding with quick times.
00:16:58But at this stage has him inside the top three
00:17:01in the run for the top ten shootout.
00:17:03That's a big margin that Lowndes has got there.
00:17:05He's peeled 0.3 in the second out of his nearest drama.
00:17:08Scott McLaughlin.
00:17:09So the first into the high 20s.
00:17:11One minute 20.8.
00:17:12Mirrors the time achieved in qualifying last year by Mark Winterbottom.
00:17:15And you'll see that when they get onto their second tyre set
00:17:18and perhaps a little anti-roll bar adjustment,
00:17:20tweak of tyre pressure at perhaps the right heart
00:17:23with David Wolof in the background.
00:17:25On their second bite of this,
00:17:26we'll probably see an increase in speed.
00:17:27And those guys from GRM, McLaughlin and Prema, second and fourth.
00:17:32That's a great job for Gary Rogers Motorsport to wheel those cars out
00:17:36and at this stage of qualifying be up at the pointy end.
00:17:39So Lowndes, McLaughlin, Van Gisbergen, Prema, Winkuff, Davison,
00:17:43Winterbottom, Courtney, Coulthard and Pye.
00:17:46That's your top ten.
00:17:47Let's just see now.
00:17:48Van Gisbergen does a 21.17.
00:17:50Same time basically as before.
00:17:53As Neil said, three tenths per second for Lowndes is quite a big gap.
00:17:57This will wreck your lap if those guys come out of pit lane
00:18:01and stop you from using all the road into turn one.
00:18:05So that's why I think it was Eagle stationary there just waiting to let the traffic go by.
00:18:11It helps him as well.
00:18:12Do you want to go again on these tyres or do you want to do next then?
00:18:15Oh, a bit of engine smoke.
00:18:22Gone.
00:18:23And that's oil on the rear tyres, that is.
00:18:26And that'll actually be a problem.
00:18:28Okay, mate, I see that there mate.
00:18:30You just have to pull up the escape road there mate.
00:18:32Can you tell us what's happened?
00:18:34You can see the oil.
00:18:36See the shiny stuff on the road in front of the car?
00:18:38There'll be other cars caught on this.
00:18:40He has spun on his own oil.
00:18:42That's oil there.
00:18:43Good to hop out there mate.
00:18:45And that's a red flag for the session.
00:18:49So Mauro Engels.
00:18:50That's a good call because that would be dangerous in the braking area at Wakefield Street.
00:18:54This looks like it could be a fire under there actually by the look at that now.
00:18:57There's a lot of smoke coming out from under the bonnet.
00:19:02That's a brand new E63 AMG Mercedes-Benz.
00:19:06And this is Mauro Engels introduction to V8 supercars likewise.
00:19:10Be careful here, be careful, be careful because as soon as you open that up and the air gets on this fire.
00:19:16Here we go, get ready.
00:19:18They're right on the job these guys have done a good job of managing this.
00:19:21Well done.
00:19:22Good job.
00:19:23Well done.
00:19:24They're very well trained then.
00:19:26See they didn't just open the bonnet straight up.
00:19:28And they didn't dispense with a heap of the material because the cleanup afterwards can be quite problematic for the teams.
00:19:34Well done.
00:19:36So you can just see here, see the smoke now.
00:19:40I wonder whether it sat there.
00:19:42You can just see a little fire underneath then Neil.
00:19:44I wonder if it sat there too long and actually overheated because it was stationary with the thing idling at the end of pit lane.
00:19:50A lot of temperature maybe didn't like the temp.
00:19:52And then it spins.
00:19:53The oil on the rear tires and just guy rates.
00:19:56No control then for the young German.
00:19:59And as you can see there's that stream of oil there.
00:20:02It's a very dangerous spot because you fire up Wakefield Street in a bumpy braking area.
00:20:07Very quick approach.
00:20:09Well Tim Blanchard and Jason Bright were lucky to not get caught up on that oil slick and spear off into the fence.
00:20:16Same with Murrow as he checks out the damage and makes sure that the cleanup operation and everything that could trigger a fire there is put out as enormous brakes on these new 18 inch wheels.
00:20:28That's one of the things that you notice as soon as you go along pit lane just how big they are.
00:20:33And drivers are on the radio saying that everywhere from the pit lane exit all the way up into the braking area turn four has got a lot of oil on it.
00:20:40So this will actually have a bit of an impact on the way qualifying now plays out.
00:20:45Well Rick Kelly just said to his engineering group that and that's Eric Pender who has been with HSV dealer team and with Walker for many years.
00:20:54So Eric Pender on the radio with Rick Kelly and he just said to him there is no way you're going to go faster to reinforce what you said now.
00:21:02There's so much oil that with that lap six minutes to go basically in the session there is no way that that'll clean up enough to change the lap time.
00:21:13So let's run you through that leaderboard Craig Lowndes leading the way.
00:21:18We're looking for the top ten and a halt to proceedings here at the Clipsaw 500 so we'll grab a break and bring you back.
00:21:25On Today Tonight she boasted about her crimes.
00:21:29Still games, still cars.
00:21:31And laughed at the law but she's not laughing now.
00:21:34Now I care a lot, now I feel bad.
00:21:36Plus Lucy in the sky with danger.
00:21:38That was something else, seriously.
00:21:40Flying high with a roulette.
00:21:42I'm going away.
00:21:45Welcome back.
00:21:46We're still in a holding pattern here in qualifying for the Clipsaw 500.
00:21:51Courtesy of Maro Engel.
00:21:54Dumping a whole heap of oil and then coolant and then clean up job thereafter up at Turn 5.
00:22:00So all the cars are still in pit lane.
00:22:026.5 minutes, 6.41 seconds remain on the clock.
00:22:06clock craig lounge has had four race wins at this circuit but just the one pole on the corresponding
00:22:10on the saturday last year rather and he is in the box seat to go into the top 10 shootout and
00:22:16have another crack at it barrettes yeah maddie we're not really surprised to find loungey up
00:22:20the pointy end once again uh loungey happy new racing year early days with this car looks
00:22:24fantastic how's it feel to drive to you yeah look thanks it's uh it's nice to be back in a car i
00:22:29think that's uh you can tell by the stands we're talking before by the stands like how much interest
00:22:34this is obviously the start of a season to have not only brand new cars but brand new manufacturers
00:22:38and uh and of course uh you know look it is exciting times it's only uh about halfway through
00:22:44qualify we're sort of getting to the pointy end your your time so far have been fantastic do you
00:22:49feel like you're drilling into where you want to be oh look brett we're getting better at it like
00:22:54we're understanding the car there's there's some uh areas like the rear roll center which we can't
00:22:58adjust anymore on the fly like we were last year so there's things like that we've got to get our
00:23:03head around because there's certain things in the car that i want that the boys have got to
00:23:07recalculate how to get it so it's uh it's it's an interesting time that we're all searching we're
00:23:12not quite there yet but it's uh it's fun to drive you get a bit of a feel for the guys around you out
00:23:17on on the track there what what are you reading from the cars around you and where they might be at
00:23:21oh look i think most people around the same area all the cars reacting and moving around the same way
00:23:27everyone as i said everyone's still searching trying to get the best out of it
00:23:30um you know the nissans looks pretty good i think that's uh we followed uh tied around before
00:23:34um you know the mercs unfortunately don't don't look as good as probably what they they want to be
00:23:38uh but no doubt they'll get strong as as the racing goes on but uh you know at the moment it's it's
00:23:44fantastic to see new names up there new new faces and of course you know we don't know yet what the
00:23:49racing is going to be like because i don't think many of us have actually done a race run and that's
00:23:54where it's going to be interesting hey lounges you speak of new names but i know a young fellow
00:23:57called casey stone has been picking your brain what have you told him oh look you know just to
00:24:01go and enjoy it i think there's uh you know he hasn't really got any high expectations although
00:24:05you can see his frustration sometimes but uh just to get out there and enjoy it look he's having a
00:24:09ball um completely different to his two wheels let you enjoy it now get on your louncy thanks mark
00:24:14thanks brad hey i've just quickly managed to grab dave stewart the team manager down here at arabus
00:24:18racing dave i saw your engine guys trailing over the data there you're watching it any suspicion as to what
00:24:23that might have been no not so far mark but uh obviously it'll be obvious once we pop the bonnet
00:24:27yeah i don't think we should be overly critical early days been a lot of work mate i think that's
00:24:31entirely acceptable oh yeah i mean a few teething problems here and there team's done a tremendous
00:24:36job to get here and you know it's just a matter of developing from now on all right mate you're
00:24:40looking a little tired it's been a long six weeks i know mate you're still you'll be fine
00:24:44absolutely larko everybody has put in an extraordinarily long hours massive amount of
00:24:52work to get the cars to the grid or to get them here to adelaide haven't made the grid yet and
00:24:58they're the first victims and what a brute of a place to unveil a new car yeah it's tough isn't it
00:25:04it's always been a tough place on cars as i said a little earlier 120 days from the announcement of
00:25:11this whole program they've done an extraordinary job to turn their whole fleet from forward into
00:25:15mercedes-benz and that man that mark larkin was just talking to dave stewart has led the way there
00:25:20he's done a remarkable job can i just say at this point mate the most impressive thing by far down
00:25:26here on the pit lane is during the course of today so we've rocked up with 28 brand new cars and you
00:25:31know yourself just one car's enough and i have not seen guys sort of pouring over cars fixing oil leaks
00:25:37broken gearboxes broken anything i mean it has actually been outstanding the guys have been
00:25:42focused on finishing building cars and doing tuning adjustments that we're normally seeing so
00:25:47i mean i just don't think that could be underestimated that to roll up with 28 cars
00:25:52and they're not falling apart at all fantastic
00:25:55yeah well said larko i did ask adrian burgess down there at triple eight race engineering
00:26:02who've churned out some six or seven brand new cars how many how many man hours do you reckon he said
00:26:07just don't ask yeah exactly do not ask so that was a close one there for tim blanchard
00:26:12direction johnny reed so that was oil so as soon as he landed off the curb there he immediately picked up
00:26:19that oil so the early runners here are going to unfortunately be the track sweepers and cleaners
00:26:23as they soak that up and disperse it but the problem is they've got to get on with it there's
00:26:28only four minutes and 15 seconds remaining in this session so and if you're down the order
00:26:32like he is 27th at the moment then you've got to take the pain of the slipping and the sliding and
00:26:37the other guy that you can well there's several of them but one of the high profile runners that you
00:26:42can loop into that equation is garth tander because he's way down the order after being
00:26:46pretty competitive fastest man in practice one he's down in 18th at the moment and he clearly
00:26:51as they all do want to be in the top 10 for the shootout and it may not be possible now i mean it
00:26:55may be that the track condition now look at this lands on the oil and big slide so easy to fire in
00:27:02the fence on the right when you arrive a car has quite a lot of load from turn one curb and when it
00:27:10arrives on that oil very difficult to know what trajectory it will take and you saw johnny reed there
00:27:15having a major moment which as i said could have been an accident very quickly on the right hand
00:27:21side so again lounges and the guys that have already put a lap time in they're the beneficiary
00:27:26the guys down the bottom have got to get on with it and on that point lounges mclaughlin and prema
00:27:31they're sitting it out at the moment because they know the track condition will not allow them to
00:27:35improve but everybody else that's vying for a spot in that 10 is pretty much out there fiori and kelly is
00:27:40still in the lane and you can see scotty mclaughlin backing out now ready for action back of the dodo
00:27:45car is dean fiori in the 88 entry at lucas dumbrell motorsport we wouldn't be doing this now
00:27:52mclaughlin he won't go he won't go any faster it's risky it's it's a high risk game unless they're just
00:27:59sending him out there just to circulate and not have a crack but garth tander as we mentioned a three
00:28:04time pole sitter at this circuit he does have to have a go at it he's down in 18th he's got no choice
00:28:13but to roll the dice now the question is here how much do you put into the gamble
00:28:21to get into the top 10 shootout and possibly risk collecting one of those walls and ruining your
00:28:27weekend altogether straight away between the body language of that car under brakes into turn four
00:28:32it's not going to do a lap time garth couldn't pull it up straight or square which means he couldn't
00:28:36get the brake pressure on that he's looking to achieve there's a bit of acute forming here
00:28:40so if you're on a lap and you come up against this you'll have to slow up so he needs to get another
00:28:46lap done and we've got now exactly two minutes remaining in this session here he is so he's pressing on with
00:28:52it not a bad job actually at this point not a bad job at all to get to that level so he's only half a
00:29:04second off and if he can remain inside that half a second gap he may well get up towards the top 10
00:29:12the bottom end of the top 10. his next lap if he gets a clean run on the next lap he might be able to
00:29:18actually achieve a number here so the overall time that he needs to beat to get inside the top 10 is
00:29:23121.42 121.83 so he needs to find at least four tenths of a second look at will davison he's comfortably
00:29:35in the 10. so tanner remains 18th but the thing is he lost all that time in the first sector his second
00:29:42and third sectors look pretty reasonable so this lap that's the reason why scotty said we've got one more
00:29:46lap here he actually looks like he's got recently cleared track will goes up to second jamie
00:29:53that's will saying that he's got jason bright in front of him holding him up jamie wing cup two green
00:29:59boxes he's currently sixth his teammate craig louds has remained in pit lane this one could put wing cup
00:30:08at the top as fabian koolthar goes into third tim slade goes off and wing cup goes up to second so red bull
00:30:16racing australia first and second with under 30 seconds remaining
00:30:22so the message is it must be achievable both wing cup and davison on that track condition same with
00:30:27cold hard have been able to do a lap time so it's not as big a disadvantage for tanda as we were making
00:30:33out at the start of this last sector of six and a half minutes the remarkable thing in last year's
00:30:40championship was that all the winning was shared between two teams between triple eight race engineering
00:30:47and ford performance racing once again today early in the piece admittedly louds wing cup davison one two
00:30:55three there's alex davison two red boxes for car 18 back in the sport full time after a year out of
00:31:02it last year he's in position 18 the man to watch and we're watching his time on the right hand side
00:31:08of screen is shane van gisbergen currently fifth he's done the fastest times to the first and second
00:31:14sectors he will cross the line here and van gisbergen goes up to second and breaks the red bull
00:31:19strangle hold on one and two well our time sees a one minute 20.8731 exactly the same as lounges what
00:31:30about the effort from car 80 scott pie the youngster just one spot outside of the top 10 in his first
00:31:36full-time season here very good job that's a good effort so lounge provisional pole with a 120.8731
00:31:45and in fact exactly the same time extraordinary i've never seen that to ten thousandths of a
00:31:53second exactly the same time it's remarkable so lounges van gisberg and wing cup davison
00:32:00colthard mclaughlin and prema great job mark winterbottom courtney hrt car into the top 10
00:32:07and jonathan webb great job also so in the first qualifying session of the season neither the nissans
00:32:12or the mercedes could bust into the top 10 great job by michael caruso he leads the nissan charge
00:32:17with james moffett there's alex davison in 16th and rick kelly down towards the back end of the top 20
00:32:24and the first erebus motorsport e63 lands in 23rd for lee holdsworth and literally a baptism of fire for
00:32:31maro engel so craig lounge will be the last man out in the top 10 shootout to decide the first pole position
00:32:39of this brand new era v8 supercars right here on 7. welcome back craig lounge is actually chasing
00:32:53down some history here this weekend been really overlooked in all the newness of season 2013 if he
00:33:00can collect one race win he will equal mark scape's all-time record of 90 career victories if he can
00:33:07do the double this weekend of course he will be the all-time race winner in the v8 supercar australian
00:33:13touring car championship and he's in the box seat he will go out last in the top 10 shootout the last
00:33:18time we saw shane van gisbergen last year he wasn't a happy man he stepped away from racing but he's back
00:33:23with a smile on his face and he is inside the top 10 as well let's check in with barrettes hey matty just
00:33:29with lansy we just look at these times you saw up on the screen and eight seven three one to the
00:33:34ten thousandth of a second shane van gisbergen and craig lands on exactly the same time lansy because you
00:33:39did it first you get top spot winning championships is all about those little steps along the way and
00:33:44that's an important one for you so far oh look it is but you got to i suppose give a bit of credit to
00:33:48shane he did that time after the oil was spilt so we knew the circuit was going to get a little bit
00:33:53dusty a little bit dirty and then sort of come on towards the end but you know shane did a great job
00:33:57yeah i'm still claiming it but uh look we've still got to do a top 10 shootout now and that's
00:34:01going to that's going to be the interesting part of it all is just you know to go out there do one
00:34:05hot lap and of course uh you know we can go from hero to zero at the moment but uh but look it's great
00:34:09the cars are working well we took we spoke that you know we're still looking and searching for more
00:34:13out of it um but i'm comfortable i'm happy and of course uh you know um you know weekend rolls on
00:34:18it's going to be a tough weekend i know winning this championship this year particularly so important
00:34:23to tell us about the off season what have you been doing to get ready for this year well actually
00:34:28been pretty busy we've been off uh overseas doing uh the monte carlo with a classic monte carlo rally
00:34:33in an old fx holder so uh i think it was a bit of a appreciation to get back into these cars and
00:34:38understand where the 60 years have gone but uh it has been uh uh quite fun to go away probably get away
00:34:43from it all these guys here at red bull racing have just been flat out over christmas getting cars ready
00:34:48um actually shane van guisberg is one of our car builds so um you know not only our two cars but
00:34:53there were six other cars getting built so okay it's been incredible to uh to see the development
00:34:57of the cars it is a brand new year like we really we talk about it the cars are brand new we can't
00:35:01learn anything from from casey or anything of development series everything we're starting
00:35:06from scratch so it's so look it's going to be fantastic we want to start that momentum we want
00:35:09to get it going we always started about january i don't it's too late i want to get it going now
00:35:15i think we'll get going in the shootout all the best lounges cheers thanks he just can't help
00:35:19himself craig lounge and we not only mentioned the fact that those top two times were exactly the same
00:35:24down to the ten thousandth of a second the top three cars separated by just one one hundredth
00:35:30of a second it's a big afternoon for all of us including this man casey stoner jewel world moto gp
00:35:37champion will have his first ever v8 supercar race in the dunlop series he's qualified mid-pack
00:35:42he's actually driving the car that mark scaife and craig crowns won bathurst in back in 2010.
00:35:49look out for casey stoner you will see it live here later this afternoon
00:35:53on seven sports so don't miss it he's been a massive draw card we will take a break we've
00:35:58still got the top 10 shootout to come but after this break scaifee larko and crompo will join us to
00:36:03run you through the full rundown of all the teams the drivers all the changes in 2013.
00:36:14incredible images from the opening day of season 2013
00:36:18where the key word is definitely change because quite simply everything has changed we've got two
00:36:24new manufacturers we have 28 brand new cars we have new drivers we have new looks so while the top 10 cars
00:36:31get ready for the shootout to decide pole position now's a good chance for us to check in on the
00:36:37class of 2013 and find out who's who so let's start at the top of pit lane cromley with the team
00:36:42that we used to know as team vodafone now red bull racing australia and it takes a little bit of
00:36:47getting used to maddie because the first thing that strikes you when you come into the garage is
00:36:51all the bright red has disappeared and it's now all red bull colors and it raises an interesting
00:36:56point because it's not just a question of building new racing cars but you've got to change
00:37:00every item of equipment just look around this gantry the walls all the sponsor decals the uniforms the
00:37:06transporter it was because the cars have changed all the jigs and racking and everything attached to
00:37:11the task had to be changed so the backstage engineering effort has been massive as well
00:37:16it's pretty busy in here at the moment as you can well appreciate we're going to blaze down the
00:37:19lane have a look at a few guys casey stoner here getting ready for his run this afternoon we'll see him
00:37:24later on today hey casey whatever you do don't listen to a word he tells you because half of
00:37:29it's going to be nonsense yeah don't see can't hear hey you got off to a good start well done thank you
00:37:35yeah so look it's great it's obviously a brand new year for us cars are fresh oh everything's new
00:37:40boys are worn out but uh but look it's a great uh start to the season stoner's bolted he disappeared
00:37:44into the back have a good run this afternoon mate thanks cl have a good run so red bull racing
00:37:48australia roland dane the boss there some things don't change continuity is important they've got
00:37:52all the right group of people together again in 2013 just as they did in years gone by and hey no
00:37:58surprise they're up near the top if not at the top of the tree dave swenson one of the guys that i
00:38:02mentioned earlier on spin around and smile at the camera dave is one of the guys that worked incredibly
00:38:06hard in the background on car of the future frank adamson also from v8 supercar these are the sort of
00:38:11talented men that have delivered these cars to us for 2013 here at aerebus motorsport v8 murrow
00:38:18engel just on the left here this car i had a quick word with dave stewart the team manager a few
00:38:22moments ago and they think that it's popped an oil ring on the oil supply so it was an oil fire that
00:38:27we saw boys and so a small fire and i've got to say well done to the fireys up there at turn four
00:38:33because scapey and i thought that they managed it brilliantly they didn't lift the bonnet and inflame
00:38:37the car and they used the minimal amount of retardant to be able to get the car uh the the fire i should
00:38:43say arrested and everything back under control so looking not going to annoy those guys christian
00:38:46clean former formula one driver having a blaze round in a gt car this weekend got off to a pretty
00:38:51good start and we might see you doing a bit more v8 this year hopefully hopefully i get a chance to
00:38:56drive these new cars look they look great and it's great to have you here and all part of the fun and
00:39:01the circus here the clips of 500 this weekend that guy's got an incredible racing pedigree aren't
00:39:06these things beautiful just let's have a little while they're all next door looking at mario's car
00:39:09let's have a look at this one this is lee's car the irwin tools entry look at this exclusively
00:39:14handcrafted for erebus motorsport mercedes amg germany now hwa the people that have actually
00:39:20built the engine about 30 k's north of stuttgart and they've of course got enormous amount of
00:39:25experience with their dtm or german touring car championship engines also the formula one engines
00:39:30and as larko will explain later in the telecast and over the course of the weekend these things
00:39:35sound absolutely fantastic it's got what we describe as a flat plane crank long and complicated
00:39:41don't want to tell you how the the the clock is built really what the time is is the important
00:39:45thing the end game is that sounds absolutely fantastic and essentially what that crank delivers
00:39:50is uh is an engine that basically is like two four cylinder engines running in parallel and i said
00:39:55earlier in the broadcast it's like the dfb cosworth sound that we know and love over a long period of
00:40:00time so we'll blaze a little bit further along to my old mate brad jones and these guys have got
00:40:06three cars again this year one for david wall with wilson security and they've retained all of their
00:40:11commercial partners including team boc and lockwood and these guys have got off to a very good start
00:40:16over here rich so these fellas were very quick at sydney motorsport park eastern creek here's jason
00:40:22bright's car new big ap brakes on the front of it 18 inch rims and tires ap calipers single
00:40:28bleed nipple on them this year have a quick look inside we're going to do more of this through the
00:40:32course of the year there's that new display that i spoke of before pedal box has been built by triple
00:40:38eight race engineering that new butte six-speed gear lever with the gearbox at the back of the car
00:40:42they're a lot cleaner and tidier collapsible steering column greatly improved safety they're
00:40:47beautiful cars we could spend a whole day
00:40:52mate you are as bad as me neil i'm just having a poke around inside these cars there's another one just
00:40:56quickly pop your head inside this ford performance racing car everything completely different and
00:41:02new and beautifully engineered on the internal but the big change here these look nothing like
00:41:07what we've been used to obviously now sponsored by pepsi max so this is the mark winterbottom car
00:41:12his engineering crew has changed he's had campbell little working with him for a long time they've
00:41:16changed he's now got james small which is that chap right there he worked with davy reynolds last
00:41:21year great young engineer and they need a change of combination not because anything wrong with
00:41:25what was working they need to try something different mark is clearly one of the fastest
00:41:28guys ongoing in the championship but he can't crack a championship yet and he has to so there needs to
00:41:33be some change there so as you can see the team looks different but essentially it's the same i mean
00:41:38the key players the same but there is a big change at the top the ownership this was owned by pro drive
00:41:43racing remember and now it's actually been taken over by rod nash and rusty french couple of good old boys
00:41:48good races and so i don't think that'll change a lot because the key guys in the team are still the key
00:41:54guys you can still do see them doing a wheel alignment isn't amazing all this money look at
00:41:58that the little fishing line still works i love it now if it comes through here davy reynolds okay
00:42:02he's still in the bottle o falcon run out of the ford performance garage uh davy uh look expect a lot
00:42:09from him you're going to see a lot of davy in the future alex davidson have a look up the back there
00:42:12there's alex davidson will davidson's brother older brother you remember he was around a couple of
00:42:17years ago had a year off and he's come back and he's back into it now we need to keep rolling along
00:42:23here you can see he's got jeldwin on his car you might remember that was around with marcus ambrose
00:42:27a couple of years ago next door techno autosports really great little team this they're up in
00:42:32queensland a small team shane van gisbergen's come here you've heard a lot about that jonathan
00:42:36webb still driving this car got some new sponsorship here on the commodores triple eight provided commodores
00:42:42by the way good move from the new south wales government that's about the 40 k's an hour in the school
00:42:46zone i don't think we've heard the end of the shane van gisbergen issues over in this car here
00:42:51but i really like this team they've got some good engineers bruce jenkins that guy there heads up the
00:42:55engineering department they're a good strong tight-knit little team and that's what makes
00:42:58them really really competitive yeah well done larko that was only five teams that larko and neil crompton
00:43:03touched on and the amount of changes that have gone on mark scaife of course is the chairman of the
00:43:07commission that drove if you pardon the pun the car of the future project which is now here and underway
00:43:13the thing that i've found scaifey um in this cutthroat sport today there has been a lot of
00:43:19emotion admittedly it was before practice but it's rare to see that because there's just been so much
00:43:24behind it well there has been madam and it's four years of work it's a huge amount of effort you saw
00:43:28neil crompton catch up with dave spenson and frank adamson there before they've been key to this whole
00:43:33program being rolled out but the great thing about it is this industry has responded a brand new set of
00:43:38cars for the whole pit lane and the way they've worked and the way they've developed these cars
00:43:44they are the best i think in terms of touring cars in the world and and making sure they are market
00:43:49relevant and authentic so the whole thing is actually better than i thought it would be it's a
00:43:53remarkable rollout and also one of the things in terms of the sport when we came here yesterday and
00:43:58we went up and down pit lane and we were asking the guys what's going to happen they all genuinely said
00:44:03honestly we don't know we don't know and there was no you know smoke and mirrors behind that that was
00:44:08the absolute truth and that's what's unfolded in the qualifying session i think we'll see that in
00:44:13the race we could well see one of the best ever races in the category well no doubt to have three
00:44:17cars within one hundredth of a second out of qualifying to have a guy like craig lounge at the
00:44:21top of the field we're going to see people pioneering you just don't know what's going to happen and i
00:44:26can't wait to see the drivability of these cars because i think the way that they actually race each other
00:44:32will be genuinely better than what we've seen over the years okay we've still got the top 10 shootout to
00:44:36come this afternoon after the break how dick johnson racing racing rather fought so hard
00:44:41just to be here and how nissan are making their move in v8 supercars stay with us
00:44:53it's been a spectacular opening day to the clips all 500 of 2013 weather wise and also qualifying wise
00:45:17these brand new v8 supercars are really charging around this circuit what a place to bring a new
00:45:23shiny car and bust it up as much as you can before you even get to 250 kilometers worth of racing and a
00:45:28reminder casey stoner makes his v8 supercar debut in the dunlop series later this afternoon you will
00:45:34see it live right here on seven sport it will be a beauty we're punching through the class of 2013
00:45:40up and down pit lane as v8 supercars crompo becomes a four mate category nissan and amg mercedes there
00:45:47but this holden versus ford rivalry is still well and truly alive yes and we can't forget it in fact
00:45:53i'm standing down at the holden racing team at the moment these guys have got the brand new vt holden
00:45:58commodore here and team red to some extent has become team white the first thing that struck me when i came
00:46:03into the garage earlier in the weekend is they've really changed their look in here and their graphics but
00:46:07the cars look absolutely beautiful here's james courtney up the back here we'll say g'day to him
00:46:11in a moment i'm not going to poke in too close because this stuff is intellectual property that
00:46:15they don't like to give away but a bit of the rear end of the car independent rear suspension as we've
00:46:19been explaining through the course of the telecast we'll go and say hello to jc hey james not a bad start
00:46:25to the weekend look like you're enjoying the car oh it could be a lot better we could be p1 but um but
00:46:31yeah it's uh as the tracks heated up it sort of caught us off off guard a little bit we were quite
00:46:35quick in the morning when it was cooler but uh definitely as the track temps come up it's uh it's
00:46:40affected our car a little bit more than what we would have thought uh so we've just been chasing
00:46:44that a little bit this afternoon so uh fingers crossed we're throwing a throwing a little bit
00:46:48at it so it'll be a bit of a adventure mission this afternoon we'll see how we go in the shootout
00:46:52mate have a good run in the shootout he's got nice bright new shoes here rob star this man around
00:46:56the corner here is in james corner now and robbie's been involved in the holden racing team for
00:47:01how long a long time 22 years and counting tony dow good afternoon to tony no tony from the old twr
00:47:07days he ran their sports car program in the us the ligio formula one team i tried to get a drive
00:47:12with him at panels a few years ago and i'm wearing makeup so you know how that worked out but it's good
00:47:17to see these guys they're going all right have a good run jc uh we'll sneak on down the road
00:47:23this guy here russell ingall 18 years and counting in v8 supercar racing full-time competition for him
00:47:31comes to an end at the end of this season but he's in the super cheap colors now these guys
00:47:36here an interesting one because tony delberto racing as you may well remember last year running
00:47:40a ford and that was an operation paired up with ford performance racing so now they've done a technical
00:47:45alliance with these fellows next door at walkinshaw racing so they've had to completely change everything
00:47:50and all the spares and they're tethered to the mothership so that's going to help the cause and
00:47:54he's been quite quick in the car so far so beautifully presented the high flex car and we'll sneak in
00:47:59quickly next door because this is a story first time since 1980 long time ago that we've not had a
00:48:05johnson in car number 17 in fact the boys are here at the moment steve john bow it's a meeting of the
00:48:11minds dick johnson this is the old team back together again boys i was just talking about the fact that
00:48:16you're not in the car and there's no johnson in car 17 this is a bizarre moment for all of us who are
00:48:21big fans yeah it's a bit different isn't it really it's a bit different to to watching these cars go
00:48:26around as always boys we're pretty much out of time here but uh fantastic to have you on the grid and
00:48:32a special mention to john from wilson security and advan because those guys have come to the party
00:48:37at the 11th hour and got you guys back in business you're an ambassador in their program this is great
00:48:41news dj these are my friends it certainly is you know like john has done a fantastic job and you
00:48:47know he he rang me actually and uh and offered to help us out and let me tell you without him we
00:48:53wouldn't be here well we love having you here we hope that stays a problem for us for many years
00:48:57to come boys good to see you we'll talk in more detail over the weekend thank you
00:49:01well the medal for me for the most amount of work done in the last six months probably goes to these
00:49:05guys kelly racing i mean they really have started from nowhere with the nissan the launch of the
00:49:09new nissan altima and new drivers new cars new everything and you can see over there that's
00:49:14actually a couple of the v8 supercar officials just checking the nissan there's lots of checks
00:49:17and balances going on at the minute okay so drivers james moffat has come from dick johnson racing
00:49:22over into this team as has mick caruso and i can actually see mick caruso who drove with
00:49:27gary rogers motorsport for many years i saw he is here we'll just see if we can grab a quick gun hey
00:49:32mick sorry to interrupt just very quickly mate first impressions driving the new nissan um i think
00:49:37everyone's done a fantastic job here at nissan motorsport and uh very happy to um to be here and
00:49:43do a good job for norton oh you're such a diplomat thanks very much just if you can stick the camera
00:49:46in there have a look just how beautiful some of that we talk you know we rabbit on actually about
00:49:50some of the beautiful engineering but seriously we are besotted to see 28 beautifully new engineered
00:49:56cars on the pit lane next door the two what were two jack daniels commodores are obviously now two
00:50:02jack daniel's nissan altimas as well there you can see look these are the new parts i'm loving all
00:50:07this so this is the what we'll call the the undercarriage that bolts up underneath the new
00:50:12trans actual gearbox we'll rip into all of that stuff in more detail a little bit later on so
00:50:16obviously both the kelly brothers driving here rick kelly who i expect to be very competitive this year
00:50:20and as i said earlier todd kelly who not only driving the car is really integral to the engineering in
00:50:25the team and uh my hat's off to him now this is a great little effort in here this is lucas
00:50:29dunborough motorsport there's lucas there um who in his own right was a very competitive formula
00:50:33four driver they've really done the right here thing here clever move they've gone and bought
00:50:38two triple eight racing brand new vf commodores dean fiore who's come from dick johnson racing
00:50:44dodo sponsorship for the year now in this new vf over on this side and over here scotty pie
00:50:49second in the dunlop series last year now this guy keep your eye on that he's going to be around for
00:50:54some years to come the guys are a good hot young property and very very important so
00:50:59as you can see there's there's a there's a whole lot of new and a whole lot to be excited about
00:51:03because these guys straight out of the bat have been more competitive than they ever have so i'm
00:51:06not going to try and predict anything can't do it yeah and scott pyre has qualified 11th in his
00:51:11first full-time v8 supercar drive so it's going to be interesting to see him just back on that nissan
00:51:16story this is we need to point out a full factory attack nissan motorsport have well and truly got behind
00:51:22what used to be kelly racing is now nissan motorsport this is a full-blown attack scoping well it certainly is
00:51:27matt and what a great endorsement of v8 supercar racing to be out of the sport for effectively 20
00:51:32years last time was the gtr in 1992 and as soon as the rules are opened up to have other car companies
00:51:39in they are straight back in and the amount of work a couple of guys have done a great job jeff fisher
00:51:45and ian morellin from nissan motor company have been so supportive john crennan formerly from holden and
00:51:51hsv was very supportive about getting that whole program together and they've got i think an
00:51:56unbelievable package because that car's not even on sale for the first time in australian
00:52:00motorsport history that car's on a racetrack and not for sale yeah they've done a tremendous job
00:52:05for the nissan ultimate do you remember sunday june 21 1992 mark that's a long time ago i certainly do
00:52:13matthew and it's it's one of those ones where i mean the success that nissan motor company enjoyed
00:52:17in those days was because they had the best car the godzilla nissan gtr was the best car of the era
00:52:23when they come back into the sport now it's a much different guys it's a parody formula today
00:52:28they're going to come and be competitive they're 13th now and i think they've done a great job to
00:52:32be here with four cars yeah and we know that the kelly brothers have had success at this circuit
00:52:36before so look out for them across the course of the weekend sunday june 21 1992 was the last
00:52:42ever time that a nissan drove in terms of the championship it was the day that a bloke called mark
00:52:47scaife won two races in the gtr and wrapped up his very first uh australian touring car championship
00:52:54title would go on to have four more so our drivers are getting ready to head back out there and what
00:53:00a great run too for the fujitsu grm team of alex primer and scott mclaughlin who are both inside
00:53:06the top 10. young scott 19 years of age will go out he's qualified in six spots so the top 10 shootout
00:53:13is coming your way don't miss it here on seven
00:53:27well we wait in anticipation for the first top 10 shootout of the season there's an enormous crowd
00:53:43here filling the big grandstand at the clips all 500 and it's head down time to crunch some numbers
00:53:51this nervous weight for the first man out which will be james courtney you can see him there in car
00:53:5622. this is our location this weekend the hall of fame event eclipsal 500
00:54:05the 15th year it was inducted into the hall of fame back in 2005 but it's all about this circuit you
00:54:10remember it hosted formula one between 1985 and 95 this has just been adjusted a little bit this circuit
00:54:16we know it's so well in v8 supercars 3.22 kilometers 121.05 is the lap record and the weather
00:54:25is absolutely fine a top speed of 245 kilometers that's on approach midway through sector two there
00:54:32that red sector down to turn eight it's the one where they go skimming along the wall on the outside
00:54:39and to underscore how you get around this race track as james courtney prepares to go out on his lap
00:54:44only 44 of the lap they're the brothers davison will on the right alex on the left alex is back
00:54:49after a year in career cup where he was runner-up and no he wasn't runner-up but he had a very strong
00:54:54year but great to see those guys together in the same camp at ford performance racing and this is
00:54:59the lineup headed by craig lownds we'll see him last james courtney out first and a spread of 0.4 of
00:55:05a second but i was going to make the point that in order to get around this track you've got to be
00:55:08able to deal with the curbs the bumps the tricky braking areas because the actual requirement of
00:55:14being on full throttle is only 44 percent of the lap sort of underscores how tricky it is to get around
00:55:19here 143 kilometers an hour as a lap speed average and it is fantastic on a friday what a working day
00:55:28here in australia to be able to see so many enthusiastic fans and i've just come through some
00:55:32of them in the paddock they're loving the brand new season the new look and sound of our v8 supercars
00:55:37so for all those that have come out that's great there's greg murphy who was in the commentary box
00:55:41a little bit earlier down at the holden racing team and they grabbed him as soon as he came on the market
00:55:47to have him in the squad for the endurance races at sand down and at bathurst a little bit later in the
00:55:51year okay so james goes out this brand new vf commodore he's had a pole position at this circuit
00:56:00before back in 2007 back then it was for stone brothers racing in the ford falcon bf
00:56:10word around that there's a nice big contract extension waiting for james at the holden racing team
00:56:17and right now he's utterly focused on the next minute and a half 3.22 kilometers of this
00:56:26absolutely terrifying at times circuit steve hellum in the white shirt on the left
00:56:30he's running the operation down there and the other thing that's changed with the visuals
00:56:33inside their garage is that they're there steve they're all in behind the bunker that they've
00:56:37built like an engineering bunker so you can't actually see them from within or from the front
00:56:41of the garage steve i think for something like 18 odd years is one of the very senior people
00:56:46in the management at mclaren formula one so he's been out here now for a little over a season
00:56:52and has taken a little time to understand beast v8 supercar racing and the whole racing scene he's
00:56:59applied a lot more of his systematic thinking to the way which they're doing business this year
00:57:05and rob starr that you spoke of when you're in their garage very experienced guy was on the radio
00:57:10to me for many years he'll be a real addition to james courtney's act in 2013. last year courtney had a
00:57:16wretched weekend at the adelaide clips all 500 with a dnf and a 25th he's been second here four times
00:57:24though let's see how he does this one it has to be clean through the center chicane
00:57:30up towards turn four didn't like the downshift you can hear it smacking rattling the rears locking
00:57:40the rear brakes on the hard cut there in second gear this is through east terrace
00:57:45in the middle of these corners about 80 kilometers an hour
00:57:51hard cut again on the run up to turn seven now bartels road
00:57:57and now lining up thinking about just how much commitment is required to get through turn eight
00:58:07plenty we had a word that is massively committed wonderful shot of courtney from earlier
00:58:14where he just was completely out of space on the exit at eight this is nine
00:58:18second the third back to second gear through the left-hander at turn 11 a lot of curb on the left
00:58:26a little bit of oversteer on the throttle on the exit
00:58:36gets the car right down at the target speed hits that apex gets the throttle up and in early climbs the
00:58:42wall on the exit and it's a 22 one it's not a bad opening account in those conditions
00:58:49it's ryan walkenshaw watching over rob star's shoulder there and this is where we said it
00:58:54lock the rear see the back just come out of step it's always bumpy on the way into turn four he did a
00:59:01great job to save that very easy to run on and that's turn five james mark scaith very committed lap good job mate
00:59:09yeah it was a bit chaotic the uh the car couldn't really get into the corner so uh blocking the
00:59:17rears everywhere and sort of flat sliding so we've got a bit of work to do but uh we'll shine it up
00:59:22overnight and see how we go tomorrow a good job for the first half effort and as james said they're
00:59:27flat sliding so basically lacking rear grip too much oversteer this is jonathan webb 29 years of age
00:59:33techno auto sports is his team to car operation this year with shane van gisbergen in car 97.
00:59:41both of these guys comfortably inside the top 10. this is one of many of the cars in the field that
00:59:46were built by triple 8 race engineering and techno auto sports on the gold coast forged that relationship
00:59:51they ran their cars last year looks like they're in for a strong year van gisbergen alongside him in
00:59:57this team run very very wide there at turn five wider than you'd ideally want because it means you've
01:00:03got to cross the road to line up for the next one good sector split but to some extent that was all
01:00:09brought back at turn four because of the problem that james had the rear race up into four on the
01:00:14bumps in wakefield street down to the sweeper here at turn eight a tiny little bit of high speed
01:00:23oversteer in the middle of the corner still two tenths up on courtney's time after the first two sectors
01:00:31now the more technical part of this circuit around the back turns 10 11 and 12 right out to the wall
01:00:39on the outside he might have left something behind there just run over some debris
01:00:43the techno auto sports brains trust look on as he comes to turn 14.
01:00:47the only thing missing some flashing lights on this police car but he's
01:00:54doing a good job here he will lower the time set by courtney which was 122 so 121.59
01:01:02for jonathan webb he did a 121.3 in qualifying
01:01:07yeah it wasn't too bad just too much push for the first half of the lap
01:01:11so that that comment is too much push so that's where he ran wide neil made the comment that was
01:01:17too wide there which made the next corner too tight so he lost some time in there and the push that he's
01:01:23referring to means that the front tire doesn't have enough grip on the way to the corner and
01:01:27front of the car basically slides and easy to run wide that's the little moment on the way out of turn
01:01:32it's interesting that his comments mark are almost the opposite of james courtney who had a problem
01:01:38with the rear of the car these are the sorts of things that we'll hear throughout this weekend and
01:01:41in the weekends to come as they all try and find a chassis balance four pole positions and three race
01:01:46wins last season for this man mark winterbottom third in the championship for the pepsi max crew fpr
01:01:53ford if you're a betting man and he won't want to hear this you'd be locking in third position for the
01:01:58qualifying because he's qualified third five times at the adelaide street circuit you're driving him
01:02:04nuts bounces over the curbs especially given that for example last year he ended up being the fastest
01:02:11man in qualifying these guys i said a bit earlier in the broadcast got off to a good start with their
01:02:16belt program and they got their cars on the track early they've achieved a lot of kilometers they've
01:02:20learned quite a number of things that they need to look at carefully with the management of these cars
01:02:25and they're hoping that that head start gives them a dividend great sector split
01:02:33two tenths down on the best sector split that we saw in the main qualifying session this is daunting
01:02:39this is total commitment for a race driver one of the fastest and most dangerous corners in australian
01:02:44motorsport and every little bit of road on the exit and he's up by 0.15
01:02:51and a run a little bit wide there didn't get it stopped well enough didn't make the apex that will
01:02:59have cost him a little bit of time not too much it's a very slow area a bit over steering on the way
01:03:05out of the left hand behind the pit area very committed in this last section very easy to lock it
01:03:11inside front tire for the final corner got to get it straight run up on the berm use the berm on the
01:03:18outside like a motocross berm and stop the car from sliding as winter bottom 21 4 goes to the top
01:03:24that one i don't think that'll be good enough that's a good lap but that won't be good enough
01:03:28based on the pace that we saw in qualifying a little while ago
01:03:33turned 11 ended up on the extreme outside of that curve there in second gear he's talking in the
01:03:48background about just having a bit of a miss shift i think with the gearbox one of the things that the
01:03:53drivers are talking about and i had a little dab in that prototype a year or so back it should be very
01:03:58methodical in your down shift you've got to make sure that the gear lever returns to center before
01:04:03you keep hitting it with the next lowest gear if you rush it it doesn't like it so there's a little
01:04:08rhythm change in the way the drivers have got to actually apply their methodology oh that's a bit
01:04:13scrappy didn't quite hit the apex at turn one for alex crema as a result so it was a little wild ride
01:04:19into one and then the apex the inside of that turn one area is critical to touch and he missed it ever
01:04:24so slightly 30 year old frenchman who is effectively going back to back in the top 10 shootouts he
01:04:30qualified fourth at our last race of homebush on the saturday he was too ill to make it to the sunday
01:04:36in the final race of the season he's been given a reprieve by gary rogers and he's answered back
01:04:43with a qualifying position inside the top 10 for the first race here but a red box
01:04:48he was 0.4 of a second outside at the time set by mark winneboe and he was fastest of all the cars
01:04:54in this sector the second sector in the previous session so that's a very very good job very brave
01:05:00you can see there that he went from basically half a second down to 0.3 of a second down this won't be
01:05:05good enough to get to the front row but it's still a very good effort we always say gary rogers team
01:05:10punches above its weight and for crema and mclaughlin to be in the top 10 and be up there and competitive
01:05:16is a great effort to start this season and we've talked about this before but he's got serious
01:05:21pedigree he was teammate to nico rosberg and lewis hamilton in gp2 third and fourth in that championship
01:05:27part of the audi sports car program he's been to le mans he's been successful in the le mans series
01:05:33time there 121.7 there's his boss i think the word there from gary rogers was that's tidy
01:05:40that's all right yep and that's what you want a tidy clean lap and you want to bring it back straight
01:05:45and two cars in the top 10 for these fujitsu guys that's a very very good effort and a great start to
01:05:50their campaign so mark winterbottom is leading the way and the other car out of the fujitsu garage
01:05:55young scott mclaughlin will be coming up right after this break as the top 10 shootout continues
01:06:00hope you're enjoying the v8 supercars season opener right around the country
01:06:09to all parts of the globe courtesy of seven sport and this is an enormous moment for a 19 year old
01:06:16kiwi born full-time debut on scott mclaughlin last year's dunlop series champion also the new zealand
01:06:24superstar champion that's his team boss this year keep screaming up on me he's always got a laugh
01:06:31and a smile gary rogers and with good reason alex primer has uh just done the third fastest time so
01:06:38two cars inside the top ten what a moment just locked the brake a little bit on the run into one there
01:06:44but he got it tucked in just the same he's an apprentice fabricator and he's finishing his
01:06:49apprenticeship with gary rogers it's a great story and richard holeway whose opinion we respect in
01:06:56this commentary box said to me earlier today that this young guy at 19 reminds him an absolute mirror
01:07:01of craig lounge in his demeanor and his speed his commitment and his enthusiasm and we're seeing
01:07:06that in evidence because of what he did in the development series last year what he did in new
01:07:10zealand in the touring car championship over there he's already accumulated a lot of miles and a lot of
01:07:14experience it's a pretty big wrap when richard would put him in that level of esteem against
01:07:22someone like lounge a very nice neat tidy lap this is what he's got to do you can't go and make a mistake
01:07:28and even if it's a little bit slower and even finishes at the back of the top ten this is a very
01:07:33very very good performance he's picked up number 33 which premier was driving in last year it's the
01:07:40same number that young scott drove in cars in fact he tweeted a photo of him i don't know how old he was
01:07:48but just a young kid behind a car with 33 so he was stoked that gary rogers allowed him to use this
01:07:53number this year he just looks like one of those youngsters that is comfortable in a v8 supercar and the
01:08:00surrounds 122.22 that's richard hallway on the left so scott mclaughlin has done exactly what you said
01:08:08scafie just a nice tidy lap that's what will impress your team boss it didn't have to be lightning fast
01:08:15they didn't expect him to go out there and get pole position and that was a little bit loose and
01:08:19untidy and that's exactly what that curve down there turns one two and three will do scott mclaughlin
01:08:25should be on the line with us maddie white here in the commentary box scotty how was that one
01:08:28hey guys that uh that was pretty cool you know i'm a young kid living a dream so um i just had so
01:08:36much fun doing that that was cool hey scott mclaughlin made a very very good job all the very best for
01:08:41the rest of the weekend that was a superb performance today great job yeah thank you very much i'm working
01:08:46the old mate crusty so i'm having a bit of fun good stuff living the dream good on you mate well you've
01:08:53got 78 more times to do that tomorrow and sunday as well so you can have a lot more fun across the
01:08:58weekend just should explain that crusty's richard hallway just for those that don't know but you can
01:09:03hear the enthusiasm in his voice and uh you know i'm a big fan did a great job last year and he's off to a
01:09:08a ripper start this year this is fabian coultard lockwood racing brad jones car there are three of
01:09:14them as pointed out in the garage before and he's been quick again this weekend as he was at sydney
01:09:19motorsport park for the launch and test day and there's the boys at lockwood racing at bjr off the
01:09:23top left hand side of screen and the benchmark time set by mark winterbottoms at 21.4 it's a couple of
01:09:29tenths shy of what craig lowndes achieved in the shootout last year it's holding up so far
01:09:35and what he's got to do is do a good job in the first sector of this lap because he was
01:09:39the fastest of all the cars in the final sector in fact he did the fastest sector of all time
01:09:45the clips of 500 in the last sector of qualifying so what he needs to do is make this work so he's
01:09:51not too far away this big fast turn eight is the one that makes the difference there's so much time
01:09:56to be made with a level of commitment here and up there through turns four five and six allowed us just
01:10:02in the one lap dash as we watch him go through eight hold your breath wow that was close allowed
01:10:09us to just see how agile these new vf commodores are and how pointy they are and that's in good
01:10:14stead now matt that's only 0.01 away and he was fastest in this bit now in the previous session as
01:10:21i said before water used too much curb then he had the right hand wheel on the inside curb which
01:10:26pushed the car wide that will have cost him time he was 11th overall in the championship last year
01:10:33twice he qualified fifth that was his best qualifying position he finished fourth in the races three
01:10:39two times in 2012 we're expecting big things from bradley jones racing and fabian kilter and right now
01:10:46he's on the front row of the grid that's a very good time it's only eight 100 slower than the benchmark
01:10:51time set by mark winterbottom so they can be very happy with that and brad said to me after the sydney
01:10:57motorsport park test it was a real emotional moment as we go back to the replay here at turn eight
01:11:02and just have a look at how little room there is on the left side of the car
01:11:05and so with all the work all the stress and the worries of making it all go together for them
01:11:12look at that phil key the engineer brad jones staring at the numbers uh with everything that
01:11:18was involved in getting the cars out there to come away from that first and second is a huge moment for
01:11:22those guys not one of the biggest teams in town and we think this could be one of the hallmarks of
01:11:27this new generation of car that because some areas have been flattened out well i think we're going to
01:11:32see more well we've got evidence of it really because brad jones racing and gary rogers racing
01:11:37are evident in the top 10 here right now so we could see a few surprises which is great totally
01:11:42agree and they were so wrapped after sydney motorsport park to be basically the first and second
01:11:48cars on that day and they were consistent all day so this will be interesting to see now
01:11:53how davison goes so will davison is the defending flicksil 500 champion he won on the sunday here last year
01:12:00he has had pole position at this circuit before two years ago but this is a real handful up to turn
01:12:06four the pepsi max crew fpr falcon his teammate leads the way 121.40 is the overall time to beat
01:12:15sector one coming up he's looking for a green box he gets a red one instead 0.2 away almost 0.3
01:12:21not that accurate it doesn't turn in well enough he's got too much flat slide
01:12:28at the rear also just have a look at this he's very good at this corner
01:12:37i can't explain how wild that is but that is wild and he's made up time there too scathing in that
01:12:42second sector so good effort down the fast faster and more fluent part of the circuit
01:12:50it's the left right turns that seem to be catching them out as the fpr crew look on so will davison
01:12:58comes here on a mission in a brand new fg he's trying to knock his teammate off the top of the list
01:13:03he's been clawing back the time since that first sector drifted away from him and he crosses the
01:13:10control line that doesn't make it he finishes fourth
01:13:25he's been complaining about the car and that was a good comment there that's a better a better effort
01:13:29than they thought so that was a very very good job so still to go craig lounge shane van gisbergen
01:13:36and after this our defending series champ jamie winker
01:13:44we are back on board with the man who's dominated the v8 supercar championship over the last
01:13:50five years collected his fourth driver's title in 2012. he won 12 races and seven pole positions
01:13:58last year alone there's warren luff part of red bull racing australia in the enduros he's going to step
01:14:03into the commentary box for us soon for the v8 utes and also this man jamie wincup has dominated this
01:14:10circuit he's won the most races seven overall and he has the most pole positions in the history of the
01:14:17pixel 500 four but what does all that mean when you roll him out in a vf commodore it's a clean slate
01:14:28because it's now equal footing across the entire v8 supercar grid he's just one of 28 brand new cars out
01:14:36there he's just happened to have done it better than anybody else over the last five years good visual there
01:14:41of the new readout screen just tucked in behind the steering wheel so let's cut loose with jamie
01:14:47wincup for this one lap dash the time to beat 121.407 belongs to mark winterbottom off we go
01:14:55so you can see a gear position there and also where the roll bars are set this is the driver's eye view
01:15:01of turns one and two cleanly through there has to grab the gear mid corner through three
01:15:05and this place and this race when we sat down did an extended chat with him last year he's right up on
01:15:13the curb exit there at five he described this as one of the finest moments that great run that
01:15:20he had last year here was just a spine tingler it's a tenth of a second out he's using more road
01:15:29and the other cars that have gone before him in this shootout
01:15:37especially on approach to turn four this is eight
01:15:42second sector coming up there it is green box two 100s in it it's nothing between wincup and winterbottom
01:15:49that awkward turn nine sharp right hander now around 10 11 and 12 right out again to the wall how
01:15:58he missed it you'll never know
01:16:0364 career wins for this man 38 pole positions he's racking up some awesome numbers he loves this circuit
01:16:11more than anyone because he's had so much success here is this another part of that chapter not this
01:16:17time it drifted away in the third and final sector and it leaves mark winnerbottom at the top
01:16:32well jamie won't be happy with the way that lap finished jamie mark scaife that lap was looking
01:16:37really good it just didn't quite finish off the way you'd like was there a bit of a drama in the last
01:16:41few corners uh yeah not too bad scaifey um yeah still learning the new car and having a bit of
01:16:48fun out here she's a bit of a handful but um i didn't quite get the best lap in but hopefully i'm
01:16:52somewhere in the front rows it looked like you uh had your your hands full all right because it had
01:16:58plenty of oversteer there was a couple of ugly moments very committed at turn eight but you lost
01:17:03point one four at the last sector yeah yeah you're right um massive oversteer i don't know why i
01:17:08haven't really had much oversteer all day but uh as you say the rear is pretty slippery mate but
01:17:13that's all right i hung on to it great job mate all the best for the weekend thank you cheers
01:17:18as jamie winkup heads back towards the garage shane van gisbergen is not mucking around it's showtime
01:17:24folks on the streets of adelaide because the flying kiwi the giz is back in action in a different car a
01:17:30different team a different mate he's got the lights on the vip pet foods back techno auto sports
01:17:36commodore he's been very consistent here too he's had 10 races and 10 finishes and that's a very
01:17:43important achievement at this racetrack first split for him doesn't look good he's one and a
01:17:48half tenths down but it is recoverable in this middle sector
01:17:54sixth in the championship last year with stone brothers racing fourth the year before
01:18:00sixth the year before that closed up closed up just a touch so five one hundreds
01:18:10i didn't think we knew jamie lost 0.14 he didn't do a good job here on the previous lap and he didn't
01:18:15do a good job at the fast right so van gisbergen he's still in this there's a big chance if he can get
01:18:22get through here nice and cleanly and get it stopped he's only got one pole position next to his name it
01:18:28came at sand down last year in an electrifying run this will send the techno auto sports garage through
01:18:35the roof if he can deliver here and he does welcome back shane van gisbergen to the top of the list
01:18:43with one man remaining
01:18:47bruce jenkins in the middle there he's running the operation and this is a great start for the
01:18:53partnership they've got with vip pet foods so big recovery in sectors two and three then
01:18:59so rusty french on the right who's one of the new co-owners of ford performance racing together
01:19:06with rod nash and mark winterbottom and his wife renee are actually parents because they had a bub
01:19:11early in february so father of two now yeah austin so uh did you do one race in texas yeah he must have
01:19:19loved the place so much he named a son after him yep younger brother for oliver so uh two boys under
01:19:29the age of two frosty good luck that'll be handy exactly good luck with your sleeping this is the
01:19:35man that stands in between shane van gisbergen and pole position the people's champion especially around
01:19:43here this is a hold in town this crowd is jam-packed they love craig lounge and lounge loves them back
01:19:52he's got a special affinity also with this circuit whoa big bumps really unsettled the car
01:19:59now he comes sliding into turn three he's out of control that was big moments big big moments
01:20:05there through turn three yes turns one two and three freestyle motocross so let's have a look and see
01:20:12what the sector split looks like here but that was pretty wild massively committed how much time did
01:20:18he burn he done he gave time can you believe that no with lounge yes i can he's extraordinary
01:20:24seriously this morning before we were on air mark and i had a conversation about this stuff you see
01:20:30this flamboyance from him from time to time and you wonder how it translates on the stopwatch but he
01:20:35does make it stick on occasion he actually didn't use as much exit space in the middle sector and he's
01:20:40actually lost a fraction of time but he's still in this game there's nothing in it between he and
01:20:44shane van gisbergen in the final sector remember this is where van gisbergen was really good through
01:20:49this part this is where jamie winkup's time fell away so what has this red bull racer got on the
01:20:55final sector can craig lounge deliver another pole position he's had one here before it would be a
01:21:02miracle if he could claw it back but the way lounge operates he operates in a miracle world of motorsport
01:21:07the crowd have witnessed something pretty unique here lounge style he can't knock van gisbergen off
01:21:14he goes into third techno auto sports celebrate the start of the year
01:21:19simple to drive there but anyway three great with the first ever pole position in the new era of v8 supercars
01:21:26steve webb jonathan webb's wife kobe in there celebrating as well and van gisbergen who made a
01:21:33controversial move is now the first pole sitter of 2013. you watch this this is how craig lounge
01:21:39starts his one lap dash gets the left hand side of the car right up on two wheels rolls that into
01:21:47the curb on the right hand side and you check out what it does on landing down he comes on whatever
01:21:54runway he can find what a story this is shane van gisbergen midway through last year announced that he
01:22:02was leaving the sport leaving stone brothers racing for personal reasons to take a year off
01:22:08he's now re-emerged at techno auto sports under a fair bit of controversy
01:22:13but he's landed the first pole position and it goes to the holden commodore vf in season 2013.
01:22:19mark winnerbottom again misses out on pole but will be on the front row of the grid lounges and cool
01:22:24top make up the second row our champion from 2012 jamie winkup starting from fifth there's jonathan
01:22:31webb will davison the second best of the forwards and scott mclaughlin full-time to boo this season
01:22:36will start from inside the top 10 for fujitsu grm
01:22:40well and promised everything and delivered a surprise and van gisbergen has pole
01:22:53what a turn of events to start the season here at the clips all 500 with shane van gisberg and the 23
01:22:58year old kiwi collecting the first pole position in this new world that is a four make v8 supercar category
01:23:05and strikes the first blow in the arbor all pole award chase for 2013 two and a half thousand dollars
01:23:14go straight into the bank i reckon it might go on the bar at techno auto sports so he can run you
01:23:18through the qualifying list as i mentioned there van gisberg and winterbottom on the front row that's
01:23:22the first time that frosty has been on the front row here and as we said he's qualified fifth third
01:23:28rather five times before that so it's a juicy top 10 we've got the champion from last year in there we've got
01:23:34two fujitsu grm cars in there the leaders of the other makes michael caruso the best of the
01:23:40missens in 13th he's got james moffett in 14th there garth tander couldn't bust out of the mid pack
01:23:48he will start from position 18 and the leading e63 amg mercedes-benz out of erebus motorsport is lee
01:23:55holdsworth with tim slade and maro engel there to bring up the rear of the grid as we get set for
01:24:01tomorrow's 78 lap at 250 k's but let's check in with our pole sitter shane van gisbergen with
01:24:06mark barretta yeah maddie g shane what a way to stamp your authority on 2013 well done on pole
01:24:11thank you uh all day today we've been in the top five the car's been awesome thank you to the crew
01:24:16and uh thank you to the webb family for for uh taking me on board it's been really good uh it's
01:24:20been a great start to the year and and it's uh there's no points but there's a lot of points in my
01:24:25mind it's uh it's it's pretty awesome to do that it is quite amazing because you went away over
01:24:29summer collected yourself came back and and what a turnaround this has been oh it's just been
01:24:33fantastic so uh yeah thanks to the team and uh hopefully we can convert it into a podium tomorrow
01:24:38it would be awesome but uh thanks to the quins at vip it's uh it's really cool thank you good on
01:24:43you shane see you tomorrow cheers bye mark winterbottom here mate you're a little bit of a lone soldier up
01:24:47there with the falcon up near the front their front row but p2 who's not a bad starting position mate
01:24:52it's not too bad um you know i'm pretty happy with the car but i wanted to get on the front row and try and
01:24:57obviously get that launch into one but uh he just pipped me there's you go through that lap
01:25:02and there's little bits i missed a shift here and there but ifs and buts front row is pretty good i
01:25:06think we can race from there how do you feel mate i mean we've talked a little bit about this in the
01:25:09past great speed great reliability now you really want to put that championship in the bag i mean do
01:25:14you think you're positioned better this year than previously uh well it's the unknown we come in
01:25:19hopeful and and thinking that we've done enough but everyone everyone doesn't really know what's
01:25:24going to happen in the race the longest run we've ever done is about six laps so you've got to
01:25:29multiply that by 78 tomorrow and um it's going to be a long race so we're good over one but what's
01:25:35going to happen no one knows it's the unknown and that to me is going to make the race interesting
01:25:38even what's in qualifying there some of the guys wearing past you would have grabbed your roll
01:25:42center adjuster and done something different couldn't do it so mate look forward i think it's going to be
01:25:46a ripping race and good luck thank you yeah it's going to be a great race and the category's going
01:25:50well i think the car of the future's worked very well and it's going to get better from here so
01:25:54uh should be a good race cheers frosty thanks mate well the future's here right now frosty and he'll
01:25:58be looking forward to a good solid run tomorrow of course don't forget casey stoner will be behind
01:26:04the wheel this afternoon for his first ever v8 supercar race in the dunlop series he's paired up with
01:26:10red bull racing australia he has qualified mid-pack for the first dunlop race you'll see all the dunlop
01:26:15races on seven sport this year and our dual moto gp world champion is really going into this side of
01:26:23the sport with four wheels as you'd expect full throttle so red bull racing australia it's been so
01:26:29busy down there crompo you go in there i mean not just the fact they're the championship winning team
01:26:34from last year and the jamie wing cup's the man of the moment they've got the most popular driver in
01:26:38craig lounge there you're throwing casey stoner in the mix and there's hardly any room to move
01:26:42that was the full a-lister media scrum yesterday there were people everywhere trying to get all
01:26:47over it when casey was sidling up to the car and climbing in it was amazing amount of congestion
01:26:52it was interesting to listen to mark winterbottom there talk about the unknowns now that qualifying
01:26:57is done and dusted we're now thinking about turning these cars into race cars so quite literally it's
01:27:03going from one unknown now to the next because the differences here are striking want to talk about
01:27:09these differences between the new and the old so let's just recap the differences between the
01:27:13old car and the new car of the future the chassis change red is 2012 blue is 2013 the awkward sometimes
01:27:20expensive to build chassis is given way to a common platform across the cars great rigidity economy of
01:27:28scale in volume of building those cars and to some extent a level playing field now now the thing that
01:27:33we described for many years as the larry bar which gave the shell structural integrity and a real boost
01:27:39in terms of its stiffness has also been taken out of the car we've recovered it in other ways the car's
01:27:46still very very safe move the engine back this is a big one as well because there's a pendulum effect
01:27:52when you've got big heavy stuff hanging at either end of the car so the engine's been moved back for
01:27:56better weight distribution and better balance the live rear axle has given way to an independent rear
01:28:01suspension much like many of the performance and modern cars that we see out there on the road
01:28:06and we felt this was important from a market relevant standpoint so infinite adjustment cars are
01:28:12very sensitive to those changes the gearbox that was forever alongside the driver as you can see has
01:28:17now been moved rearward and it's been combined into the differential into a device called a transaxle
01:28:23much like you see in a sports car or an open wheel racing car formula one indy car formula 3000
01:28:29the old 17 inch wheels and these were a talking point for a long period of time in our business
01:28:33because they really isolated australia from the rest of the world it was a rare size by going to
01:28:38the 18 inch rim again more market relevance means we've gone to an 18 inch tire we've got bigger brakes
01:28:42as well to be able to cope with the bigger rim now remember that fire back in western australia a
01:28:48couple of years ago fuel cell was at the rear of the car for enhanced safety that's now been moved forward and
01:28:54i spoke before about the pendulum effect of having big heavy stuff at either end of the car
01:28:59by packaging that further in bad it's actually made the car balance better as well glass screens have
01:29:05gone we've had those for many years and we've seen many occasions where the screens have been fractured
01:29:10and glass shards have gone in varying directions not a good idea for the drivers to be subjected to
01:29:15that kind of danger so we've got polycarbonate now replacing the glass and there's a new control
01:29:20engine ecu or engine control unit wiring loom all the data logging all being provided by motec
01:29:26from victoria down in melbourne those guys done an awesome job we've got a new collapsible steering
01:29:31column like you have in your road car as well so another important safety feature and enhancement in
01:29:36these cars and that panel of carbon fiber the sandwich to the right hand side of the drive has gone
01:29:42in there and been beefed up as well so overall better weight distribution better packaging more
01:29:47commonality some reduction in certain cost areas that is the new 2013 red bull racing vf