TONY D'Alberto has paid tribute to his Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) team after claiming his second-ever podium finish at the Bathurst 1000.
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The 37-year-old was the co-driver wildcard for Anton de Pasquale, with the pair coming in third to take the final podium position in Sunday's Great Race.
D'Alberto has been with DJR for eight years now and he said he loves the group of people around him.
"They're passionate about it and DJ [Dick Johnson] comes to every race and he still loves it," he said.
"He's as passionate about it as the drivers and engineers and the rest of the team.
"It's a great group of people and to repay them with a podium is really nice.
"They've worked really hard to get their car towards the front of the field."
Heading in Sunday's race, D'Alberto admitted to the press in the post-race media conference that he wasn't expecting a podium going into the race.
"I thought maybe top five, but I always thought a trophy would be a real stretch," he said.
While disappointed that he wasn't able to get a win, D'Alberto's co-driver de Pasquale was pleased with how hard his team worked in practice, qualifying and on race day.
"It's good because we worked hard at this one," he said.
"We felt like we had a really good race car all week.
"We spent a lot of time doing race runs and doing that stuff like saving tyres for the race and all that sort of thing.
"I felt we maximised our day. That's what we got. It feels good [to finish third] and it's a relief, but it definitely doesn't feel like a win."
The result at Bathurst has de Pasquale up to seventh in the overall Supercars Championship, heading into the penultimate round on the Gold Coast later this month.
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