Hello to everyone watching from all around the world, and welcome, to the 2020 Australian V-Prix. I'm Neil Allenby and as ever I will be taking you through the grid walk today. The sun's out, it's fairly warm and there's very little chance of rain from the looks of it. At the front of the grid we have the two Mathershaws locking out the front row, Ruiz ahead of Simon, then the two Downtons, Powers and van Snelheid. Well, without further adue, let's get started. Here we are on the grid, plenty of hustle and bustle between all the teams. There's a big crowd out, two home drivers for them to cheer on today. As I said, Ruiz is on pole, on extras with Simon in second on softs. Both seem fairly busy, they were a bit late coming onto the grid so I won't butt in. Powers in third, on the hards and van Snelheid fourth on mediums, all four were covered by a tenth in quali. KVS seems to have just finished talking to his engineer so lets talk to our first driver of the day.
Klass, good afternoon, quick word? 4th on the grid behind your team mate and the two Porsche Mathershaw cars. Is the win still forefront in your mind, or do the team think the Porches will be too quick? "Looking at tyres, it's anyones game. We've all gone for a different option at the front here so it's really an interesting call. No reason we can't win, but those Mathershaw's on the soft compounds are going to be very difficult to catch if no-one gets in front of them to hold them up." What's your strategy for todays race? "Primarily, I need to get ahead of Nathaniel at the start. That has to be my first aim. Getting stuck behind him wouldn't be great - but he won't just move aside and I don't expect him because we're free to race. After that, I just need to get my head down and lap as quick as I can, and hope the Mathershaws in front don't have the pace to pull a pit stop advantage in the first stint." Thanks Klaas, I think there's someone calling you so I'll see you later. That's the top 4 then, now we have a swarm of FIRST and Ocelot mechanics, their drivers locking out 5th to 7th along with 9th, Kangur intervening in 8th. Lots of work going on, everyone trying to keep the cars cool so they don't overheat at these temperatures. Then in 10th, it's the man himself, who seems to be free so... Dmytro Kovalenko! The star of qualifying, how was that? Up here in 10th for the team's home race, what was it that worked for you yesterday? Do you think you can carry that pace into today? "I think that is the best I have ever driven for sure, very happy with the car and for my team for giving me this car! I think we are making improvement all the time and for sure we will see what happens in the race now. I would like very much for points for us at home, I think we could really use it for the last years with no points. I am very, very happy, and I think for sure we can make it a good one and maybe for good ones in the rest of the races!" What's your expectations like for the rest of the season? Until now you or Finn hadn't qualified but do you think the car has improved and you now can fight in the midfield? "I think the car is getting better, we are seeing it is getting faster and having more grip for the corners. We need to keep working on things but as I say I think it is improving and Finn will say so too. Let's look to today and the next races and see where we are!" Good luck for the race. So now we are into the heart of the midfield, we've got Ingrams, North Stars, a Phoenix, an out of place Wagner, the Westwood are slightly further back, you can just see a Lucas car from here in 19th. I can't see anyone free right now, some drivers aren't in their cars so presumably they are doing a splash and dash pit stop at the toliets or garages. Might just move o- oh, speak of the devil, look who's popped over the pit wall. Jean, good to see you, a few questions for the grid walk? You seem to find yourselves in the mix for the top ten fight again here - albeit behind Kovalenko - is this about where you expected to be coming into the weekend or do you think you’re punching above the level of the car? "I think we have the pace for top ten sometimes, but not all the time. I don't know if I've raced Dmytro before so it's nice to have new competitors." You’re on the mediums today, as are most of the field, do you think strategy will be the deciding factor today on this circuit which is notoriously tricky to pull off many moves at? "It's tough round here, no doubt, but if we're all on the same tyre then we will have to overtake on the track" *shrugs* True, well I won't hold you up so see you after the race. I wanted to grab a word with Wagner or one of the North Stars but those cars are crowded so I'll move on. There's Alvarez in 15th, his teammate is way further down though - some interesting comments from the team afterwards, wonder if he's under pressure to perform. I spot a man who would know much about that, in fact I can see the two latest additions to the paddock talking to each other, just a second... Christian, Neil Allenby, FVTV, nice to meet you. You’re on the grid here for the first time since you were moved into your new role at Phoenix, how different has your weekend been compared to how you’d usually work? "Hi there. Erm it's been very different actually, yeah. So far this weekend has involved much more media duties like interviews and suchlike, shadowing Alex quite a bit and generally seeing what goes on on the other side of things. I'll get used to it I'm sure." You’ve got Sergio starting fifteenth with Thierry back in twenty-third; did you expect more from them here? "Ah, yeah. Sergio did wonderfully yesterday actually, there is no way we could expect to be any higher with what we've got. Thierry is incredibly disappointed though yep. To be over half a second behind and out qualified yet again is definitely not what he wants, nor do the team of course. He needs a good race today but we have every faith in him." Thanks Christian, and Ben, your first ever FV start for your team! How has the atmosphere been in the team since Q1 and how excited was everyone after Takahashi's lap? "Thank you, of course, as a team we're pretty excited. The runs from Friday have come back with some good details and Yakumi has said there's still a bit left in the car after yesterday and it'll be interesting to see the tire wear after having such a green track yesterday." What's your aim for today's race? Are you just planning to have Takahashi bring it home with a steady race and collect data or do you think you can do well amongst the pack? "I think what we have to do here is to just bring ourselves back down to Earth for a little bit and keep our heads down for the race, any data we can collect here can help us improve to try and avoid Q1." Thank you as well Ben, I'll let you two continue on with your conversation then. I'm now reaching the back end of the grid, passing by Takahashi's car, everything seems okay, it'll be interesting to see how he does. Doesn't look like anyone is free, wanted to talk to Xylander but he's not in the car. Might just make my way up towards the front now... hey that's Thunder walking up from the back row. Marcus? Hey Marcus? MARCUS? "Yeah? Oh Neil, apologies I didn't see you there." It's fine, just some questions before the race. Pretty good job in 19th. You must be happy to beat your team mate again? "I'm extremely happy with the results, I feel like this car is much easier to set up. I did a lot of simulator work with the guys at the factory over the winter. The work seems to be paying off. I just hope I can carry it through to the race" Jamie Franklin and Nick Addison have been quite scathing of the teams and your potential for this race what do have to say in response to that? "I think the results from the quali speak for themselves - I'm not worried about Addison today. With regards to Jamie, it seems like he has forgotten how to build a race car, so yeah. I'm not worried for today" Well... erm... oh brother, there's not long left, I'll have to go now, catch you later. Just trying to recover from that last answer, yeesh the shade from Thunder. But anyway, not long before the national anthem so if I can catch one more person I would be happy, but nearly all the drivers are at the front of the grid. Still just keeping an eye out... wait there's two people who the crowd will love. Hunter, just a few words before the race? Great quali session for you, 6th place, your best ever starting position. Did the car just click with the circuit and do you think you can keep this up in the race? "I think it’s the passion and the backing of the fans which pushed me to where I am! I’m very excited to put on a performance!" We're here in Australia down under, your home country. There's two Aussies on the grid this year, how has the support been for you and Nick and are you hoping to put on a show for them? "It’s been good fun seeing the support and the crazy antic our fans get up to here!" Thanks mate, and Mr. James Harding, been a while since we last had a beer together, how are you doing? "Not too bad man, how are you?" Very good, I'm excited to be here in Australia - your home event as well like Hunter and Nick. How do you find the atmosphere here? "Honestly, the show is great. I spoke to Dave Sanders who is the manager for FV and he told me they have sold more tickets than ever before." You took some guests around in a 2 seater FV car didnt you earlier on Friday didnt you? "That was brilliant, we have a old FV tyre test car which we modified and yeah I took some people around the track today. It is always fun to see some people who have never experienced the visceral power of a FV car being absolutely blown away!" You last raced for Lopez in 2017, any thoughts on a return? "Never say never." I wouldn't mind seeing that! Well there's just 15 seconds left until the national anthem so that's all from me, I'll hand it over to Bradley and Lilly.
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