A very large part of doing well at Indy is qualifying the car well and once I wasn’t able to achieve that goal I was always going to be in for a tough weekend.

Indy is such a tight circuit that getting to the pointy end of the grid is so important. Without doing that you need either a lot of people to crash out or to have a charmed run to get through the pack.

We came to Indy with the car set up as it was for Bathurst but it just didn’t work around the Surfers Paradise circuit and it hurt us. Once we tweaked some things in the car I had more pace and it was frustrating to be sitting behind Cameron McConville for all of race one, but that can happen in racing.

While it can be frustrating not being able to pass, I still really enjoy the street circuit at the Gold Coast and the weekend in general. I also think Jamie Whincup produced a great weekend and declared he is going to be hard to beat in the championship.

I thought the weekend was a bit tamer than it usually is in terms of the partying and while some people have complained about the ‘fun police’ moving in at Indy I think it’s a good thing. People bring their kids to the event and they don’t really need to see adults frolicking naked with strippers.

A highlight of my weekend was catching up with Scott Dixon. Scott and I have known each other since we were kids and it was great to see him and say how impressed I am with what he has achieved to his face. Scott is a great bloke and should be very proud of what he has achieved, especially winning the Indy 500.

Another who should be proud of their efforts is Ryan Briscoe. The Aussie Penske driver has done remarkably well in the last year and to come back from the horrific crash he suffered at Chicago in 2005 has been a huge effort.

That sort of crash is the danger of driving on an oval circuit at high speeds and is part of the reason these boys get paid the big bucks.

Speaking of dollars and Indy, I would hate to see the IndyCars leave the Gold Coast and hope everyone can reach a mutual agreement to get them back here next year.

I would much rather see them here than the A1 guys, which isn’t me disrespecting that series but it certainly doesn’t have the prestige of Indy Car or Formula 1, although it is pretty big back home in New Zealand, thanks to us Kiwis having a pretty good team.

In other news Casey Stoner won in Valencia, but unfortunately he left his run too late to retain his title.

I also continue to believe Felipe Massa has left his run too late in F1 and that Lewis Hamilton will leave Brazil this Sunday with the World Driver’s Championship.

Jase

Not the indy wkend I was expecting 12th. Bad qual not able to pass ends in no result. 17th in R2 got involved in 777’s crash, then 11th in R2. 15th in champ

Made car massively better today. I had 3 of the fastest 4 laps finished 15th. I got passed at start by cars going straight thru chicanes so maybe finish up 12th

My 100% top10 qual record is no longer in tacked. 15th today. We r confident that went wrong way with setup. Better tomorrow. Last yr I was 15….podium again?