Nulon Racing’s Scott Pye and IRWIN Racing’s Mark Winterbottom experienced their first laps around Pukekohe since 2019 in Practice 1 today for the ITM Auckland SuperSprint.
Only one 30-minute practice session was on the schedule for the first day on track in New Zealand, with the objectives of the session to assess the grip levels of the circuit and gain valuable data to improve the setup of the cars ahead of Qualifying and Race 27 tomorrow.
The Nulon Racing crew made a host of changes to Pye’s car throughout the session, as he finished 15th fastest on a single set of tyres, and was reasonably pleased with the pace of the car in the first session.
Winterbottom was 19th fastest in the first session of the weekend as the IRWIN Racing crew look to improve on the balance of the IRWIN Racing Commodore overnight.
Team 18 returns to the track tomorrow for Practice 2 at 11:35am NZDT, followed by Qualifying at 2:00pm and Race 27 at 4:40pm over 41 laps.
All the action can be viewed live on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports and Sky Sports NZ, with post-race highlights on Channel 7.
RESULTS & QUOTES
Scott Pye, #20 Nulon Racing Team 18 Holden ZB Commodore
Practice 2: P15 (1:03.1452)
“We had a little hiccup in one of the changes which meant it took longer than expected so I only really got two runs, so we finished up 15th on one set of tyres.
“I don’t think our car pace is too bad, just a couple of little things and we missed out on some running, but I think our car speed is better than what it looks like.”
Mark Winterbottom, #18 IRWIN Racing Team 18 Holden ZB Commodore
Practice 1: P19 (1:03.2587)
“It was great to be back out on track at Pukekohe today, and all-in-all we had a solid first session.
“We threw a few different things at the IRWIN Tools car in Practice 1 and we’ve found areas to improve our balance of the car for the remainder of the weekend.
“We’ve got one more practice session tomorrow morning so we’ll try out those changes and get ready for Qualifying and the first sprint race of the weekend tomorrow.”