Lowndes: Soft tyre speed key

Tyres have been the main talking point all weekend, with drivers such as Shane van Gisbergen even throwing yesterday’s second race to help save an extra set of hard compound Dunlops for today.

But Red Bull Racing Australia’s Craig Lowndes says it will be the soft tyre stint that will make the difference, even though he’s unsure how long they will withstand the Perth circuit’s abrasive surface.

“I don't know how the soft tyres are going to be at the moment to be honest, everything's a bit up in the air,” Lowndes said.

“I think the soft tyre will diminish really quickly, it's just a matter of doing the longest stint on them possible as I think they'll still be the fastest compound. We'll just have to see what [the race] brings.

“I’m looking forward to the longer race with multiple tyre compounds, so it should be good. The Fords are very strong here at the moment, but we'll see what we can muster up in the Red Bull Holdens.

“Credit to [Prodrive], and it's something for us to work at.”

Happy with Saturday efforts

Lowndes also said that he was happy with his performance across the two 60-kilometre races on Saturday, from which he banked a third and a fifth.

"I don't think it went too bad,” he added.

“Race one was really good, we maximised our starting position and getting a podium was really good. We unfortunately just didn't have the pace in the second race.”