Clouds over Queensland

First, there is the weather forecast which says there could be a bit of rain. That will throw a big question mark into team strategies.  There's also a big cloud hanging over the future of the event at the Ipswich circuit.  At the start of the year it was ruled out because of a lack of facilities, then it was back on again, at least for this year, with V8 Supercars running the event and bringing in a lot of temporary facilities like a big grandstand.

In the short term, I have to say that it is vital that we continue to come here for the sake of the Queensland-based teams that use it as their test circuit.  But in the long term, the circuit must be upgraded in facilities for the fans such as better shade, seating and catering.

It would be nice to see them extend it at turn two and go straight ahead out over the embankment and then rejoin the track about the middle of the existing back straight.  It's a very basic circuit and there are really only two or maybe three places you can overtake.

I'd be open to any ideas to lengthen the circuit and make it more interesting.  Race drivers love tracks with character, altitude change and corners that are difficult to drive. At the moment there is not much character at Queensland Raceway.

Having said that, I've had some great results there and I'll never forget charging back through the field from stone last in 2008. But I've had some bad results there, too.  My ambition this weekend is to be on the podium as it's our test track and our back yard.

We have the local knowledge and know the track and what the weather will do.  Although, it's being held earlier this year and will be hotter, so I imagine most drivers will be in cool suits.

Our soft tyre and pit strategy will be crucial this weekend.  When you come out of pit straight you rejoin just into turn one so if you can get good track position even on cold tyres you can be confident of maintaining that position right down to turn three. By then the tyres might be warm enough to defend your position.

My endurance round partner this year is Mark Skaife and he will get a chance to drive the car in Friday practice. However, he won't be partnering me at the Gold Coast like I had hoped.

It hasn't been worked out yet but Andy Priaulx could be driving with either me or my teammate Jamie.  If Jamie drives with him, I'll be driving with Jamie's enduro co-driver Steve Owen, not Skaifey.

We've scored well with Priaulx. He may not be as big a name in Australia as some of the other international stars who are coming, but he knows touring cars.  He's the European Touring Car champion, a three-time World Touring Car champion and he will be coming fresh from Bathurst where he is racing with another team so he will have good car knowledge.

Scott Dixon, Will Power and Dario Franchitti may have raced at the Gold Coast before, but a lot of their track knowledge will be negated by the fact that the track is being shortened this year.  There has been a lot of talk in the past week about the Melbourne Storm and the salary cap rort.

Some say that we will one day have a salary cap to keep a lid on costs.  However, a large part of the cost in our sport is the car itself, not the drivers.
The car of the future project will go some way to reducing those costs.

The other factor is that some teams, like ours, actually build cars for themsleves and other teams, so that is a separate income stream.  I just don't know that a salary cap would suit our category.