MOTOR

Are you surprised with the

level of interest in your

return?

Yeah, I was really surprised. Obviously

it was all lined up; the championship

had been decided already, it was an

event promoted by V8 Supercars, last

race of the year, so a lot of stars aligned

to sort of give me that extra oomph as

far as the media side of it goes.

But what was incredible to see was the

welcome we received. Online, in person

at the track, it was a very, very warm

welcome, and that was a surprise to me,

and certainly it was something that was

unexpected. I thought I’d been away for

too long, but Homebush showed us that

was not the case!

What’s different about

the racing – and the racer

• since you left back in
  2005?
  The competition has definitely
  strengthened across the field. It’s not
  like there’s any weak teams or drivers,
  they’re all very close and competitive.
  Obviously you’re going to have the
  natural leaders, like you always do, but
  the tail of the field is still extremely
  competitive. I look forward to being
  part of all that. I’m certainly not
  intimidated by anything.
  So I guess I’m going to come in with
  some natural confidence and assurance
  that I know what I’m doing, but whether
  I can re-adapt my style here... I’m no
  spring chicken, I’m 38 now. So am I
  going to be able to re-adapt again, to a
  new car and a new braking technique
  and a new set of rules? Time will tell.
  But it’s not just about me. We’re going
  to build this team up into a winning
  team, but it’s going to take time, and
  I’m just looking forward to being part of
  that whole (team-building) process, not
  just the driving part.

So that run up at the

Sydney 500 was pretty

important?

I hope so. It’s certainly going to help

going into Adelaide. It wasn’t easy on

the DJR team, they really stretched to

do it. And it wasn’t easy for me to get

back here to do it as well, so there were

a lot of sacrifices to get there, and I

think the experience is going to help get

us going.

Does DJR Team Penske

have what it takes to

Finding the

last fi ve

per cent is

tough in

any racecar,

but in these

Supercars

you’re right

on the edge

36 march 2015 motormag.com.au