All four Supercars drivers were in action with co-drivers Scott Pye and Jamie Whincup joining Will Brown and Broc Feeney respectively.
The mid-season test was of particular interest for Feeney after a lull at Sydney Motorsport Park where he was only ninth and 11th across the two races.
The #88 pilot said much of the day’s running was dedicated to his co-driver, who spent some time buried in the gravel.
“Today was good, felt like a Jamie Whincup evaluation day,” said Feeney.
“He got plenty of laps in, which was really good. We had a big test plan to get through today, we managed to get through pretty much everything we set out to.
“No major setbacks throughout the day, so we got to smash through our plan.
“It’s going to be a lot to look at in the next couple of weeks before we go to Tasmania but stoked the boys did such a good job because it was just such a big and long day.
“We’ve still got lots to look at and improve on, you don’t want the bad rounds, but it’s good to have a test day after one, just to try and learn some new things.”
Between Queensland Raceway and Symmons Plains Raceway, the weather could prove to be polar opposites.
With arctic-like temperatures expected at the Tasmania SuperSprint, the #87 pilot said Triple Eight can’t read too much into the test.
If anything, the test allowed them to validate set-up changes and how they affect the car’s behaviour – regardless of whether they went faster or not.
“It was a massive day. Probably the greatest number of laps I’ve ever done on a test day. We had a lot to work through,” said Brown.
“We’ve got a really fast car at Queensland Raceway, so it’s quite hard because some of the changes that we’re trying to figure out what might make the car faster at other tracks make it a little bit slower here.
“It was a lot to work through, trying to confirm what setup changes we can put in our toolbox to know what changes we need at certain tracks and when we might be a little off the pace.
“Overall, a massive day working through everything. The boys did a mega job and hopefully, it will make us faster down in Tasmania.”
Whincup hailed the weather “perfect” for a test day with no great variation in the conditions.
The seven-time champion said the team has screeds of data to pour through before their next competitive outing on August 15-18.
“Both cars ran extremely well, and we got through our test program,” said Whincup.
“It was one of the best test days we’ve run operationally, everyone did a fantastic job, and we gathered a heap of information, which is now going to be up to us to sort through to try to make some gains.
“From my point of view, couldn’t be happier. I was happy to get a heap of laps for myself, which is nice because I haven’t done any this year.
“It’s always great to get to drive the car, but I felt the responsibility to try to give the engineers as much feedback as possible to try to improve the cars. So hopefully I’ve been able to contribute to the speed moving forward.”
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