Rookies Review at AGP

0:00This program is brought to you by P1 Australia Racing Components, the designer of the oil heat mats for dry some tank applications. Fight out more about the Truths on Engine Oil Heating at P1Australia.com Fundromedia Hi, I'm Charles monster and you're listening to Inside Supercars. From the race tracks across Australia and here's Inside Supercars. Welcome to Inside Supercars, Tony Whitlock and it's time for another of those rocky reviews with a Ryle and Grey driver of the Shell Power DJR number 38 Mustang. Right, I don't know if I've got that. You've got lots of names and brains on you but anyway. Roland, obviously as a rookie at this race, it was a big learning curve. Yeah, it definitely was but I was actually quite excited to come here as my first time at the GP

1:03and we actually rolled out quite fast so the cars have been very quick this weekend. We've just had a bit of bad luck with the clutch failure and then a DQ and just a few other things that didn't really work out for us. But yeah, I'd say there was a lot of learnings that come out of the weekend. I was pretty happy with how we finished. Okay, so it's a very different track than most type of tracks in Australia because a big wide open, lots of runoff area and all those sort of things. Is that something that you enjoyed sort of thing? Yeah, definitely. It's probably like one of my favourite tracks now. It's very fast-flowing and very smooth for our cars and it suits our cars for some reason. It makes a racing better so it showed this weekend but it also makes it very chaotic as well. Yeah, but I enjoyed it this weekend. The results were a bit up and down but yeah, we'll move on to the next round now. As they say in life that you always keep your best for last and you did actually do your best race result for a weekend was in the last one finishing through the days. Just outside that tent but you must be encouraged by that.

2:04Yeah, I think so. Like we got into a bit of a biffle off the start. Obviously there was a lot of chaos into turn one but we come in, had a puncture, had to replace that and then come through and pass a few cars, which was always good even with a damaged car. So yeah, we've had a lot of pace this weekend. We just need to put it all together. Wonderful, wonderful. Okay. As usual in these rocky reviews we like to ask young drivers, particularly ones who are coming to a track for the first time. What is that one thing you take away from here that you didn't know before? I'd say I wouldn't take too much away from the track as just learning it. I'd say with how everyone races, you've got to attack or be attacked. So it's very cutthroat racing in Supercars. So that's one thing I've learned with the racing. But as far as the track goes, it's just smooth and be consistent. It's hard to put a good quality lap together around here and be out the front. But if you try to overdo it and overrun corners, you're down the back.

3:05So yeah, it was a big learning curve this weekend. All right. Now you've got another couple of tracks you've got to learn. Neither of which you would have driven on at all. And New Zealand tracks are on very lot different to this one. Yeah, definitely. I've been to tap over four race over there and in 86 a couple of years ago, but it's a first ever on pretty much at Repuna. So it's sort of levels of playing field a bit, which I'm looking forward to. Yeah, okay. All right. Well, thank you very much for talking to us today. I'll be in touch over that weekend. And I'll obviously converse with Paul and get an organised. So thanks again for joining us on our inside Rocky Review. Thank you, mate. I appreciate it. And I'm with Jaden O'Jada, one of our five rookies who's here at our park. And of course, like most of the other rookies all except one, a virgin here at our park. You didn't know you're a virgin at our park, did you? No, not to this format. I'd raised on the previous format in 2019, in Formula 4. And yeah, very different coming here in a super car and on this super high speed layout

4:07that they're configured now. Now, there was a whoopsy on Thursday. Yes. It was a whoopsy. Yeah, decent one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you led the first session, which is Tourini and practice at one hour. No, 40 minute practice. And then unfortunately, in the second one, you had a moment. Tell us about that. Yeah, just, you know, the track when we start on Thursday is so green, like it's so dirty from not being run on. You know, you're constantly pushing and the track's improving, but just ended up a little bit offline on the turn into turn five. And, you know, the car snaps. And once it snaps at that corner of the track being as dirty as it is, you know, it was all over essentially. And, you know, I was in the wall, which created a lot of work for my team to repair the car. And ultimately, it led to us missing the two qualifying sessions on Thursday. And I was lucky enough that my team did an awesome job to get the car repaired and fixed to get me out there on the Thursday race. Yeah, indeed.

5:07And it's actually finished 16th in that first race from the rear of the grid. So then the next race was race five on the Friday. Tell us about that one. Yeah, so started again from the last spot after not being qualifying. That was one of the first races I reckon, an Albert Park history of supercars coming here that we didn't get the safety car, which caught a lot of people out, including us, because you know, you make the cars quite aggressive in terms of the setup. And it worked really well at the start. I went from 24th to 13th within the first handful of laps, but ultimately at the end. The continuous green flag running and how fast this circuit is puts a lot of stress under the tyres and we ended up fully delaminating both rear tyres. So it became more about management and survival than racing for us. So it was unfortunate considering how good of a start and how fast we were up until that point, but you know, for sure some lessons learned from myself and managing that process better.

6:13But yeah, it wasn't a dream outcome for that second race, but you know, part of me racing in this championship is learning, especially these first few events, just really trying to get an understanding of what these cars need from a tyre point of view and a setup point of view, and you know, ultimately I learned something on Friday. Indeed, in fact, four years of doing this, that is the one thing that all the rupees over those four years, and most of those guys are all still here, have all told me about this, learning the tyre, the management of it, learning how to make it survive and all those things. Anyway, when you went to the first race you finished, the second one was 18, and obviously the best thing bits of last is boys. Show them your best bit last, and they were you finished seven in that last race. Yeah, yeah, really good, you know, going into race three. I got really, I got a really good start, got unlucky on the outside with Cameron Hill basically coming in like a torpedo,

7:15collecting me and basically ending up in the gravel and going back to last, but again, in the race here on Sunday, race four, got a really good start and was basically forced to go to the outside, and I saw a few cars up ahead, have some contact, and I saw some damage, and once you see one car up in the front bunch, going really slowly, you know, it's just going to be chaos going into turn one, so it had to take to the grass when I saw Fini get hit and spun, and you know, your initial reaction is like you're annoyed because you're in the grass at turn one, and you're probably going to drop a lot of spots, but I looked out the corner of my eye and saw his car getting smashed up and rolled back onto the track and managed to actually gain places and amongst all that, so yeah, it was good, and then had the safety car on the restart, the car speed was really good and managed to climb away from night after the first lap up into seven, which was a really good positive for us, you know,

8:15for myself and the team, considering the weekend we had and how it started to come away with seven and have some genuine car speed in the end, that was really positive. Indeed, and for once this weekend, in fact, your team act was behind you. Oh, yes, it was behind you. Yes? Yes, yes. Definitely finished 11 times. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you very much, but the one thing we want to always find out from the rookies being out for the first time, what is that one thing you took away from here that you didn't know before about racing at out of height? Probably just the tyre management on these high speed circuits. Yeah, caught me out in the second race, so just something to take into account for the next time. All right, well, all the very best. It's two new tracks for you to learn, and tap hope. Yep. So enjoy yourself over there. Thank you. And I'm just talking to Declan and saying, oh, you want to go off and do some things over there and you know, you're not allowed to. Yeah.

9:15Because you've got too many ways to injure yourself. Correct. But enjoy yourself over there. Thank you. Jayne, now Jayne, I'm talking on Rookie Reviews. Thank you. Techbikes had a very cruel end to the weekend because you didn't actually get to complete a lap, did you? I did the first 300 metres, and unfortunately, yeah, I ended early, so big bummer for the whole MSR Bendix crew. They worked so hard, and yeah, it's very unfortunate to end it like this. Indeed so. Let's just say that was the low point of the weekend. There were many high points. It was a very good 300 metres too, by the way. Yes, good start. Yes. You had Koopamari on your right, and then you were heading there, and suddenly there's this Brock Feeney bloke just spinning around. I didn't, and I got out, and I didn't even know what happened and having that fast. Yeah, obviously you watched a replay, and that's just one of those things. I was caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, and yeah,

10:18it ended early, but it's been a tricky weekend here. Just getting caught up in too much staff. It's pretty wild racing here. It's been a big take away. Yeah, it's a really, really kind of survival of the fittest out there. You don't have to be the fastest, but you've got to put yourself in good places, and you'll end up with the result. Indeed. Indeed. And it's so different to every other track in Australia. There is nothing like Albuquerque at anywhere else in Australia. There used to be one up in Queensland called Service Paradise, which is the old road called City, but even that wasn't much like this place. So, from here, you're going next to the New Zealand, and we couldn't get a big contrast between Albuquerque and the New Zealand Dranks. No, no, no. This is, yeah, you're right, it's a very unique track. It's never been there before, so it was something to adjust to as well. Obviously built for high-error formula cars, and we're not that,

11:18so it was tricky to get up the speed here with the minimal laps, but at the same time, it was a very cool experience and an incredible track, so very lucky to race here, and no doubt we'll look forward to come back. Jack's actually had a reasonably jacked block in your teammate in the Sherry and Redhall's Camaro. He had a pretty good weekend, and in fact, come away. It's a reasonably well-placed in the championship as well. So, it's a track that actually both Cam and Nick, who drove previously for the team, had success here, had wins here. So, it bowed well for it coming here, but obviously, you know, the Ziggs and Ziggs are all those sort of things. Yeah, exactly. It's good to see Jack go get a great result, fantastic result for the team. They put so much effort in, and yeah, it just didn't work out for me this time. I made a mistake in qualifying, my first two qualifying,

12:18so I made mistakes, and that's why we started back, and then in the second two qualifying, so I started a motor failure. So, look, everyone's hurt before these things happen. So, yeah, I've just got to be a bit better and sorted out. But, yeah, well, the main thing is we've got great group of people here that are working exceptionally hard, so yeah, we'll just keep chipping away. Okay, all right. Well, as usual, we'll ask you that question about what's the one thing you need to take away from Alwe Park raising in the Supercar? Yeah, I said off the record to you, no one's safe, and that's still going to say it, because, yeah, it was just like, as I said before, you didn't have to be the fastest car, but if you put yourself in a good place at the right time, then you could really be beneficial. So, I found out that a lot, and I learned a lot about that, especially starting further back. I was quite fortunate at Sydney that I started in the 10, and it's very different when you're in the midfield and in the back.

13:18So, not something I want to experience too often, but I'm always, I'm always, there's all, even the best guys in the pit lane have their time, so they start further back. So, yeah, it's all Linux. Indeed. Well, I hope at some stage you get that cheap station, they're obviously fighting for back there. Yes. I know, I know. All of our very best news, Elon Zeck. I look forward to watching TV and seeing the results. Okay? Thank you, mate. Thank you. Welcome back to Inside Supercars. We're with another of our young men. This is Jackson Walls car 11, the objective racing SCT Mustang. Thanks. Jackson, it's been a hectic weekend, and while you've been here in Carrera Cup, these are not similar to Carrera Cup, are they? No, I wish they were. Yeah, totally different car, you know. It's a different base. I felt like everything I learnt in the Cup car that made me really strong here. I had to raise that from my memory and work on some new things to improve.

14:19Yep, okay. Your best result was, in fact, I think your last one, was it? Race 3 for the weekend. Yeah, yeah. You end up in that one? Yeah, in that one was there was 16th. But overall, I mean, I suppose the biggest thing was that you have seen a lot of come during this weekend. Lots of cars not finishing. Yeah, it's almost like, you know, everyone forgot that these cars, you know, cost the teams a lot of money to build and prep and everyone figured it's the last race of the championship every race and went a bit crazy. But, you know, I kept out of trouble for the most part. I didn't knock any mirrors off or do anything really stupid, so that's a nice thing to think about. And they had just tried to stay out of all the trouble. I mean, everyone was going crazy out there. Yeah, indeed. Given that you're driving such a different car here this year, the one thing we like to take away is,

15:20what did you learn that you did not know before? Oh, what did I learn? You need to race the guys at the back, particularly one or two people, really hard if you want to get by. You know, they fight for 15th and 14th position like they're about to win a world title. So, it's pretty tough, but, you know, yeah, they just got to race so hard against these guys. And I feel like racing against them or you definitely won't be a benefit of to me. That's all. You've not raced... You've raced at Taupo, but not at Ruapuna. Correct. Yeah, so Ruapuna would have been not even in out of the TRS schedule in your time. But it's one of the new tracks

16:20and Taupo, you did career a couple of years ago. So there's nothing in a lot too. Very tight track, of course. Much differently. It couldn't be more different than our park. But, you know, I mean, it's obviously learning over and you'll just get in. Yeah. I mean, I'm going over there in a few weeks to drive at Christchurch, so get myself familiar with the circuit, you know. What are you in then? I can't say just yet. There's not an answer to the question. But there's a date locked in. But yeah, for me, it's just go over there, every familiarize myself with those New Zealand tracks. I mean, we say this track at Melbourne's pretty unforgiving, but you go to New Zealand, and you hit one of those earth banks, and you usually don't get the car out again. Yeah, I always like to see Louis Foster when he was telling me about our, you know, an Indian car driver. And how, you know, there are consequences to these New Zealand tracks.

17:21Yeah. Every one of them. Yeah. Yeah, no, absolutely. Like, an Indian car and supercars, you know, the concrete walls move in New Zealand, the earth banks haven't moved in 50 years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, well, all the very best Jackson walls in New Zealand. I enjoy your time there, and I'll catch up with you after those events. Thanks very much. Okay, we'll go with Job Stewart, the driver of car number nine. And Chico Roll still the sponsors of this car, Job. No, the solo energy was sweet then. I'm sorry, you were right. I sure realized it was solo energy. Of course it was. That being a soft drink in a can and a bottle. Tell me, Job, it's a very different track too. I imagine any you've raced on before. Yeah, well, it's fairly different. Obviously, I never raced there before, but going in, it was a bit like a permanent circuit, flashed the street sector. Obviously, some part you got the close walls, but then the surface and everything is very high quality,

18:22like a normal circuit. But yeah, definitely different than anything I've done before, but definitely one of the coolest tracks I've raced on, especially, to be with the F1 cars racing around there. It's pretty surreal, and yeah, just unlike anything I've done before. Well, you weren't on track with any of the F1 cars. Did you get a chance to see any of those F1 races or any of the qualifying or anything like that? Yeah, well, just a couple practice sessions, which was on the Friday. We had a fair bit of free time, so it was good to have a wonder and look at the F1 F2 and F3 cars. Then the other thing that I was didn't really have much time, we were pretty focused most of the time. I didn't really want to have too many distractions, but now it's still cool to have a look at some of the new F1 cars. And yeah, a bit of that stuff, and then it was good to watch the race afterwards. Obviously, because the whole racing was done, so it was good to watch the F1 and have a bit of a relax. The track itself, big wide open corners, it's fast, it's flowing. As you've said to me,

19:22it's different to anything you've raced on before. Are there any parts of the track at all that remind you of any Australian tracks? Yeah, it's a bit of a tough one to be honest. I guess you could kind of relate it a bit to Phillip Island just without the undulation. Obviously, in the F1 cars, that back section is all pretty easy to slide out until you get to that faster game, but for us, it's pretty on edge. I think, it kind of probably relates to that a little bit, and then kind of similar to Sydney Term 1 as well. You got that fast flowing stuff, but then the only difference is everything's flat at the Grand Prix, so it kind of takes away a little bit from, you know, having to think about going up hill or downhill, but it's still pretty cool, and it's very unique. Like, you've still got the first sector, which really stops start, start, start, and then it opens it up down the back. So you get kind of the best of both of those there. But it was obviously still part of your tough initiation into the land of supercars. It was even tougher for your teammate, because in that last one, he and Zach Bates, and of course, Brock Feeney came together

20:22with a fair bit of damage, I imagine, to the 99 shift. Yeah, exactly. It was pretty tough racing all weekend, and I was involved in a few more mornings, and it's nothing too crazy, but definitely a fair bit of contact for myself. And yeah, Cooper had a pretty, pretty shocking way, Candy, got taken out through no foldable zone in three or the four races, which is really disappointing, and there wasn't until the last race, that he got all the damage, which is pretty disappointing. Obviously, the cars are going to go to New Zealand by the end of this week, and everything's going to be packed on the shipping container, so it's great to love more on this, it's very work for the guys, which sucked a bit, but at least the speed was there for Cooper, he qualified towards the top 10 in Australia, the qualifying, so there's definitely still some positives to take out of that. Next time round, a totally different track again. You haven't raced at Topor, but you're going to get a chance to have a look at it first? Yeah, we're hoping so. We haven't got anything planned yet,

21:23but we know a few guys over and over, which is good, so hopefully we can get over to Topor, and then obviously Repruner as well, because they're back-to-back, and I haven't been to either, and Cooper's been to Topor, obviously, last year, but to go to, yeah, the other track in Christchurch will be a whole new challenge as well, and they're both pretty tight, little twisty tracks over there, from what I've seen, though, you know, maybe similar to Winxin or something like that over here, at least, you know, it's going to be, hopefully, somewhat similar to what we've tried, but still different, and to learn off Cooper as well from Topor will be good for the first round over the deck, obviously, having that one-year experience behind his goal, just definitely helps, you know, make it up to speed, in the opening practice session. Indeed, there was a young guy who is now in Indikars, Louis Foster, a couple of years ago, I was there in a press conference, and I heard him talking,

22:23and he was describing English and American tracks, how different the ones in New Zealand are, and I actually said to the guy who runs the Toyota series in New Zealand, I said, how old is he, you know, 24 or 25, and he said, he's just 19, and went, oh, right, okay. But he said, you know, there are consequences of these New Zealand tracks, and that's one of the things that, you know, there's no big run-offs, no gravel traps, just, there's a tyre wall there, which doesn't move at all, you know. Anyway, as we always ask, that one thing that you took away from our park and your first time running there, and I imagine that you would very much feel that you're ready for going back there again, because it's a track that will benefit somebody who's been there, isn't it? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I feel like, in race, always ride, kinda learnt the most, and was starting to get more of a hang of it.

23:25Obviously, with the shortest race format in the short practice sessions, you don't get too much time to, kind of learn the track, and then we had a few issues, and the third, two, four, five, and two, that's on the back foot of it. But, yeah, coming under, I guess, the main thing I learnt was just a whole lot of race crafts. Like, I haven't, any races will fail you, long after, it's more just about saving the tyre and trying to stay out of trouble, but at Albert Park, with no pit stops, and the races are only 19 laps. You definitely got to be pretty aggressive, so I'd say, one thing that I'm definitely, I'm gonna take out of that, is a bit of car positioning, and knowing, you know, where to put the car throughout the whole race. And then, guys, it's not too bad job to move up, in most of the races, so I can just, yeah, take the positives out of that. All right, well, thank you very much for joining us, Job Stewart, driver of the solo energy number nine, Camaro. It's not solo in New Zealand though, is it? We're not 100% sure, yeah. We're sure we'll see stuff in the media soon, but yeah, we're working on that. Sure, I'll be keeping that eye out for it.

24:25All the very best, Job, enjoy yourselves over in New Zealand. You wouldn't have been there many times, would you? No, I've never been there before, actually. So, first time, yeah, over in New Zealand. So, check out a new country, and yeah, I'm sure it'll be very nice. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself enormously, as I was telling many of the young men who were making probably their first visit there. I first went there in 1956, so I know the place pretty well. Yeah, all right. Enjoy yourself, thanks again, and we look forward to speaking to you after round three and four. Job Stewart, all the very best. No worries, I only appreciate it. Thank you. The Inside Supercars is produced by Thunder Media, tuning next time for more, or locking the podcast on your iTunes or mobile device, search Inside Supercars. The views expressed on Inside Supercars, including the panelists and guests, do not reflect the views of the network, Thunder Media or Sport Radio,

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