Tim Goss: "An excellent day for VCARB and Red Bull Ford Powertrains today in Qualifying.

"There were so many unknowns ahead of the start of the season with such a massive change in both car and PU regulations, and so much speculation about the relative pace of each team. It's been a long hard period of research and preparation, and a tough three weeks of pre-season testing. Two cars into Q3 and Qualifying positions of P8 and P9 prove that we have two quick drivers and an impressive car in the shape of the VCARB 03.

"We came to Melbourne with a good understanding of the sweet spot for our car's set-up, and with some additional aerodynamic upgrades, the car's pace and balance took another step forwards. From the start, the car was in the correct window, thanks to some excellent preparation work from our engineering team, and from this baseline we just needed some fine tuning through the practice sessions ahead of Qualifying.

"Proceeding from Q1 was relatively straightforward, and we still took the opportunity to run two sets of new tyres to make sure we were as best prepared as possible for Q2, which was set to be our main battleground. Both drivers delivered amazing laps in Q2 to get us through to the top ten shoot-out.

"In Q3 we ran used Soft tyres, which was just a strategic decision to improve our opportunities for Sunday's race. Liam delivered another great lap, however Arvid suffered a minor control issue which cost significant performance. The job is a long way from being complete, but we look forward to Sunday's race to deliver a good points finish."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Melbourne here.