Luck with the kerb strike system will be the determining factor in qualifying for the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 according to Shane van Gisbergen.
The Kiwi made a promising start to the weekend with the fastest time from the two practice sessions today.
However he was still left unimpressed by the revised kerb strike system.
He said that the new set-up at the beach chicane, with no tyre bundles and a sensor system that provides immediate feedback to the driver via the dash, hasn’t given drivers any better reference to what is and isn’t legal.
And because of that, he’s predicting that luck will be the determining factor in qualifying tomorrow.
“It’s just all about the kerbs,” he said. “Like that lap that I did, the 1:10.6s, I was like, ‘that’s a cut’ and then no cut, so I carried on with it.
“Like, it’s just so random. Qualifying, I think, is just going to be luck.”
Matt Stone Racing’s Jack Le Brocq agreed that removing the tyre bundles has made it difficult to judge where the sensors are placed.
“It’s such a fine line,” he said. “It’s hard, it’s probably harder than what we had previously, without the tyre bundles there.
“You could sort of drive to that, and also feel where you were with the car. When you do clip them, you get a good idea of where you’re at.
“It’s interesting. It’s going to be hard to try and put a lap together tomorrow. You’re going to want to try and carry more speed into both of those chicanes, but it’s going to be the biggest thing, making sure you get through [without a cut].”
Chaz Mostert defended the system, claiming that he knew when he was going to be pinged for a cut.
Instead his focus was on the harder landing off the kerbs in the Gen3 cars.
“In my car, if I questioned myself if I had a hop, I got a hop,” he said.
“In these two practice sessions I haven’t run across [a kerb] and thought I’d been fine and ended up with a hop. Maybe I’m using way too much and then not enough.
“The cars are definitely hitting a lot harder here this year. At the beach chicane, it’s really kind of weird for me. At the last right, I seem to have a massive snap in the wheel and then try to drive it out. It’s making some good action shots out there.
“We’ll see what happens when the track rubbers up, that will be the biggest thing.”
