Team 18 drivers Scott Pye and Mark Winterbottom placed 15th and 21st in a challenging first race of the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint at Albert Park.

After topping Practice 1 earlier in the day, Winterbottom qualified 17th for Race 3 after contact with the wall at Turn 5 saw him miss out on a final run. The Team 18 crew worked quickly to repair the DEWALT Camaro ahead of the second qualifying session, which he qualified in fifth.

Pye qualified 13th and 14th in each session in the Resimax Group Camaro, and started on the Super Soft compound for Race 3, with Winterbottom on hards.

Pye showed good speed on the Super Softs but lost ground during the pit window to finish 15th.

Winterbottom started on hards however the strength of the Super Soft tyre over a race distance saw Winterbottom finish 21st.

Both drivers are confident in the speed of the cars and will be looking to race forwards throughout the weekend.

Team 18 are back in action for Race 4 of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship on Friday at 2:55pm AEDT.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Mark Winterbottom, driver #18 DEWALT Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: 1st (1:49.9679)

Practice 2: 7th (1:48.1637)

Qualifying (Race 3): 17th (1:50.1910)

Qualifying (Race 4): 5th (1:47.3905)

Race 3: 21st

“Today was a tricky day for us.

“We’ve got great speed in the DEWALT Chevy. Our hard pace is strong but didn’t get to show it in the hard tyre quali session after a little moment, but we got back out there and qualified fifth in the second one.

“The race didn’t quite go our way. We didn’t have a lot to fight with starting on hards and we had a couple of radio dramas during the race, but our pace is strong so hopefully we can put it together over the weekend.”

Scott Pye, driver #20 Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: 22nd (1:51.4047)

Practice 2: 13th (1:48.6033)

Qualifying (Race 3): 13th (1:50.0573)

Qualifying (Race 4) 14th (1:47.8862)

Race 3: 21st

“Today was a challenging day. We found that after qualifying we had an issue with the car that we only found after qualifying was concluded. So we qualified 13th and 14th, which was probably not actually that bad considering.

“Our race pace was not too bad, but, the race being declared wet meant that you only need to take two tyres in the stop. Unfortunately we didn’t realise that and we pitted for four, so, a chance of being at the back of the top ten, unfortunately, finished up 15th. 

“We get another two qualifying opportunities later in the weekend. Hopefully we can do something a little bit different tomorrow and work our way forward. 

“Our pace is certainly better than we showed. We just have to press on now and do what we can with tomorrows result and then qualify hopefully better on for Saturday and Sunday’s races.”