Team 18 hit the track for two one-hour practice sessions as cars hit the track on day one of the 2023 Repco Bathurst 1000.

The first session provided the first opportunity to assess the balance of the cars around the Mount Panorama circuit, with Scott Pye putting the Toyota Forklifts Camaro in an impressive sixth position, while his co-driver Warren Luff also had a chance to test the track, gaining valuable insights in a few laps.

Later in the afternoon, it was Luff’s turn to shine during the co-driver session. The team focused on longer runs, evaluating the handling characteristics of the car with a full tank of fuel.

DEWALT Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and co-driver Michael Caruso shared their car throughout the day as they continued to fine tune the balance of the DEWALT Camaro as they prepare for qualifying tomorrow and the 1000 kilometres on Sunday.

Team 18 will be back on track tomorrow for Practice 3 and 4 at 10:00am and 1:05pm respectively before Qualifying at 4:15pm.

All the action can be viewed live on Fox Sports and Kayo.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Scott Pye/Warren Luff, #20 Toyota Forklifts Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: 6th (2:06.5300)

Practice 2: 20th (2:07.6081)

Mark Winterbottom/Michael Caruso, #18 DEWALT Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: 18th (2:07.6326)

Practice 2: 13th (2:07.2257)

Scott Pye, driver #20 Toyota Forklifts Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

“Our first session was predominantly me in the car and it was a good opportunity to see what package we’ve rolled out of the truck with and I think it seems quite strong, and then Luffy was in for Practice 2 and did a really good job, he just had some pickup I think on a tyre at the end so that meant we didn’t get to do a time, but pace for him was good, pace for me I think was really strong finishing sixth, a long way to go with plenty of practice still to come before qualifying.”

Warren Luff, driver #20 Toyota Forklifts Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

“It was good to get some miles in the Gen 3 car around here. Scott did a great job and had good speed straight up in practice one.

“For the co-driver session, we sort of focused on some full fuel tank runs early on, just to get an idea as to what the balance of the car is going to be like, and just kept trying to tune it up from there.

“The car was pretty loose over the top of the mountain and had a couple of little moments where it got a bit scary, but the guys did a great job. We didn’t probably get to have a crack on a decent set of tyres at the end there. We thought we had a slight issue and just sort of came in just to check it out, but the car was all good so we’re excited for tomorrow.”

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

“We’ve got work to do, no doubt. We’re definitely struggling a little bit for speed. But we survived, the car was straight. Caruso and I both have the same feedback, we’re struggling in a few spots, so we’ll try and tune her up with two more sessions tomorrow, then we go hard for qualifying.”

Michael Caruso, co-driver #18 DEWALT Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

“Good to be in the car at Bathurst. Bit of work to do tonight to try to improve it but it’s early days and plenty of track time still to come.”