2023 Repco Bathurst 1000, Event 10 of the Repco Supercars Championship, Mount Panorama, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. 6 Oct, 2023.
After a challenging outing at Bathurst, Team 18 is gearing up to bounce back at this weekend’s Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, from 27-29 October on the streets of Surfers Paradise.
The recent results at Bathurst have placed Mark Winterbottom in 15th and Scott Pye in 17th in the championship standings. Despite the setbacks, Team 18 is still very much in the hunt, sitting eighth in a tightly-contested teams battle with everything to play for in the final two rounds.
Pye, who arrives on the Gold Coast with a retro-inspired ‘Team Samurai’ livery on the Hino #20 Camaro, is eager to finish the year off on a high note on the street circuits of Gold Coast and Adelaide. Pye is no stranger to strong performances on the Gold Coast streets, having showcased brilliant speed last year, consistently in the top five throughout Sunday’s race, before he was turned around.
Winterbottom is determined to harness his experience and past successes on the streets of the Gold Coast. His form from last year, which yielded ninth and sixth-place finishes in each race, offers hope for a strong showing this weekend in the DEWALT Racing #18 Camaro. Winterbottom also commented on the removing of the tyre bundles at the Turn 1-2 and Beach Chicane this weekend and the return of the sensor system to judge shortcuts.
The Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 format features two 30-minute practice sessions on Friday, followed by a 15-minute qualifying session and an exhilarating Top 10 Shootout to determine the grid for each race.
Race week kicks off with the traditional signing session in the heart of Surfers Paradise on Cavill Avenue on Thursday evening. Cars hit the track on Friday for Practice 1 at 11:30am, followed by Practice 2 at 3:30pm. Qualifying kicks off at 11:35am on Saturday, with the Top 10 Shootout scheduled for 1:05pm, leading up to the first race of the weekend – Race 25 at 3:45 pm.
Sunday’s action begins at 10:05am with Qualifying and the Top 10 Shootout at 11:35am, setting the stage for the event’s climax – Race 26, starting at 2:15pm.
For fans eager to catch all the action live, the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 will be broadcast on Channel 7, Fox Sports, and Kayo. Be sure to check your local TV guides for further details on coverage.
QUOTES
Scott Pye, #20 Toyota Forklifts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
“Gold Coast, it’s a street circuit, so how could you not love it? The atmosphere is unreal, and the circuit itself, especially since they cut it down, it’s a little boring since they made the track shorter. So, the beach chicane, always a pretty iconic part of the track, the fans seem to love the event, the balconies get pretty wild up there, but for sure the race is one of the most enjoyable. It’s challenging, it’s 250 kilometers both days, so on the body and on the cars, it’s a difficult weekend, but it’s one I love.”
“I’m excited to go into two street circuits to finish the season. Adelaide last year was awesome for us. We obviously didn’t get the result on Sunday, just with a little bit of bad luck, but we did show that we got good car speed, and Gold Coast last year was strong too, but we ran out of fuel late in the race and had to pit, so I lost the top five there, but it does give us good confidence to go to a couple of tracks that we were very fast at last year. If we tick the one percenters and not make any mistakes, we’ll be at the front, I’m sure.”
Mark Winterbottom, driver #18 DEWALT Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
“I’m excited. Gold Coast is a track I really love so looking forward to going back there and seeing what we’ve got. Obviously, a few things have changed on my car. So with change comes different opportunity, I’m teaming back up with Matt Saunders to see what we can do. We’ve got nothing to lose so we’re racing for the win, we’ll go aggressive to try and get a result. Hopefully it’s a good weekend. I’ve gone well there before and the surfboard’s the best trophy other than the Bathurst and Championship trophy to win. I’ve got a couple at home, so I’d love to add to it with another win up there for sure.”
“I don’t like the kerb sensor system at all to be honest. I think the kerbs change whether you get a kerb strike or not, whereas a bundle is literally, you hit it, you do damage to your car. I think if you make a mistake you should be punished. The sensors are kind of like Hawk-eye at the tennis, no one’s really a fan of them. I get the safety reasons, but my preference is to have tyre bundles, so, if you hit it and rip the front wheel off it, that’s your problem, like, if you’re in the wall it’s game over, but it is what it is and we’ll go as hard as we always do to get a result.”