Team 18 kicked off the Townsville 500 in strong fashion, delivering a solid performance during Practice 1 and 2 on Friday to feature in the top ten in each session.

Hino’s Scott Pye had a promising day behind the wheel, finishing 10th and seventh respectively, while Winterbottom placed the DEWALT Camaro in seventh and 18th.

The team focussed their efforts on generating a base setup to tackle the rest of the weekend, with tyre management and fuel conservation among the key strategic elements ahead of the two 88 lap, 250km races this weekend.

Both drivers will work with their engineering group to analyse the data collected during each session to fine tune their setup ahead of qualifying and Race 16 tomorrow.

Team 18 is back in action on Saturday for Qualifying at 10:15am, followed by the Top 10 Shootout at 12:00pm and Race 16 kicking off at 2:40pm. All the action can be viewed live on Channel 7, Fox Sports and Kayo.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Scott Pye, driver #20 Hino Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: 10th (1:14.4845)

Practice 2: 7th (1:13.8127)

“It was a pretty solid first day here at Townsville. We tried plenty and improved the car throughout the day. 

“We put on a set of tyres at the end and finished up seventh, which was pretty solid. I think the first run we did on green tyres was the better of the two. There was probably a little bit more time left on the table there, but when we went back out at the end of the session, we probably went slightly wrong with our direction, but it was good to learn and I think that puts in a good position for qualifying. 

“Now we’ve got some data to go through and a few changes that we can analyse tonight, and then hopefully for qualifying, come out with what is the best overall package and get somewhere near the pointy end.

“We did a combination of qualifying and race runs today. The first session we did a longer run at the end. I think the degradation is going to be huge around here.

“The cars are good fun around here, they’re moving around a lot and it’s great to be back on a street circuit and it will be a test for drivers and the cars this weekend for sure.”

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

Practice 1: 7th (1:14.3542)

Practice 2: 18th (1:14.1531)

“It was a pretty good day. In the first session we just did our base car and rolled out around P6 and kind of maintained that pace. In the second session we tried a bit more to try and make the car better and it wasn’t as good.

“We’ll look to revert it back and make a few little tune-ups around our base car and we should be back in the top 10 tomorrow, but we’re continuing to learn and we’ll come fighting back tomorrow which will be a tough race.

“I think the tyres are definitely working hard and the way the cars are sliding around, it’s going to be hard work out there and a long race for us behind the wheel.”