Craig Lowndes on Bathurst prep

As I watched the television screen and saw one of the Team Vodafone Falcons slap the wall I was thinking the worst. I wondering how bad the car was, if it would upset our race plans, and if Jamie was ok.

The problem was I couldn't see the number and I was thinking the worst. Then I realized it was the second car, with Fabrizio Giovanardi, and it was a big relief.

Over Skyline was an area we had talked about. So . . . hmmm, I'm not sure how I feel about what went wrong.

Actually, Fabrizio and Marc Hynes have had a bad run all week, interrrupted with some mechanical issues with their car. And they managed to hit a bird yesterday in practice which made a big mess of the windscreen.

For us, it was a great result in qualifying. Jamie is happy with the car, he's only doing minimal laps, and still coming out third shows we're on track and that makes us feel pretty confident.

I think the top-10 shootout later today is going to be really interesting. We haven't had one of the old-style one-lap efforts for a long time and that could shake things up a bit.

For Jamie it will be great experience. I know I always enjoyed the challenge of the Top 10 runs.

But he 's been arond long enough to know that pole position around Bathurst is not the ultimate objective.

Actually, I'll be happy if he finishes up sixth. That's where we started the last two years and it's worked out pretty well for us.

If we are in the top two rows I'll be happy but it really doesn't matter so long as we do the top 10 with a complete, straight car after qualifying. Then we can get on to changing the car to race spec for Sunday.

I only did eight or nine laps yesterday but I'm comfortable in the car. It's responding well.

I got into a rhythm fairly quickly and the car is not doing anything ugly or surprising anywhere. It flows well across the top of the mountain which is important. That's where I get great confidence.

Looking at the qualifying times, I'm not really surprised. Frosty was quick last year and I expected him to be quick again, and he got to the top at the end.

Murphy and Richards have done a great job. They are probably a little stronger than we expected.

The surprising one is Tander because he was quick in the morning but then didn't have the pace at the end of qualifying. I'm sure he would have wanted to be number one.

Looking at how things stand, we expected six or eight good car-and- driver combinations this year and that's what we've got. There are probably four to six cars that are potential winners and another eight or 10 which could get onto the podium on Sunday.

For me, the plan today is much the same as it's been all week. I'll be up early for the track walk and then we've got a one-hour practice.

I'll do the first half and then hand over to Jamie so he can get ready for the shootout.