Nulon Racing’s Scott Pye and IRWIN Racing’s Mark Winterbottom have heralded a successful day behind the wheel of Winterbottom’s #18 IRWIN Racing Holden ZB Commodore at Winton Motor Raceway today.

Pye and Winterbottom logged over 100 laps combined as the team made a host of changes to the car throughout the day’s running to fine tune the setup before the team returns to race there next week.

Pye and Winterbottom worked with their respective race engineers Richard Hollway and Manuel Sanchez, with the full crew on hand to ensure the team could gain maximum track time despite being one car down on the day.

The team expects to receive back the Nulon #20 chassis in the next couple of days to build up in time for next week’s Pizza Hut Winton SuperSprint on May 21-22.

QUOTES

Mark Winterbottom, #18 IRWIN Racing Holden ZB Commodore

“We’re just trying to chase the perfect car around here, doing lots of laps and trying to get the car to to where we need it to be.

“In the end I don’t think we were too far away from it during that last run I did. Scott hopped in right at the end so I didn’t get a second go at it but the times were very similar on the same tyre.

“We were both asking for the same things from the car so at least when we drive the same car we’ve got the same feedback which is good for the team going forward.

“We should have good data to go away with and come up with a plan when we come back to race next week.”

Scott Pye, #20 Nulon Racing Holden ZB Commodore

“I got to take out Frosty’s car today which was awesome, a huge thanks to the team for letting me have a go in it given my car is currently out of action.

“We got plenty of laps in as well, I felt a bit like a co-driver getting less laps than the main guy but still a great opportunity to turn some laps today and we got to finish with the last run of the day.

“Car speed is pretty good. I feel like we made some good improvements with setup so we go into next weekend feeling much more confident.

“It was a good opportunity for me to come here and get my eye in and play with the setup a little bit as well, as the setup between the two cars is really comparable we were able to make some setup changes throughout the day.

“It was good to work with Crusty again, it was our first proper test day really so for me and him it’s really important to spend time with the driver and get an understanding of how we work together.

“All in all it was a really good day for that so we go into next week feeling confident and ready to roll.”