It’s finally part of the Championship, so there is no reason why teams won’t rise to the occasion as they battle it out for points at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.

A remodelled format sees two 70-km and 130-km shape the weekend, the longer with compulsory tyre and fuel stops, ensures strategy now becomes a key player.

DAVID REYNOLDS

“I think we are in with a good chance this weekend. If you look at the last four races in Adelaide and Newcastle, I should have won three of them. If we are able to continue that form, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t, we can be up the front.

“Getting the most out of practice and qualifying will really set us up; qualifying up the front has always been important because it’s such a difficult track to pass around. Pit stops have been added again this year so it adds another good element but with the pit lane very tight it will be important not to pit when others are. Also, this track is notoriously hard on the tyre so running SuperSoft’s it will be interesting to see how they go over the race, and this will also dictate strategy.”

ANTON DE PASQUALE

“I have never driven any car around Albert Park which is obviously exciting but means I have a lot of work to do. We don’t get much practice with only two 30-minute sessions but the lap is so long that we won’t get many laps in that time.

“I have been doing a lot of track familiarisation on the simulator to learn the track as much as I can. It’s an opposite style of track to what Adelaide was; it’s more of a hybrid circuit, and we are also on the SuperSoft tyre which will also be a first.

“Finishing Adelaide as the lead rookie was really good, and obviously we want to move forward from there. The biggest thing will be to qualify further up the grid and we can race from there.”