Team 18 got off to a strong start at the Penrite Sandown SuperSprint, with Nulon Racing’s Scott Pye and IRWIN Racing’s Mark Winterbottom finishing in seventh and eighth position respectively in Race 24.

The team converted their early practice pace into Qualifying, as Winterbottom snuck though as the final car into the Top 10 Shootout and gained four places to start Race 24 in sixth. However, Pye encountered a couple of technical issues during the second part of Qualifying to start 11th.

Pye was quickly on the front foot in Race 24, advancing two positions on the first lap to ninth. With speed to burn, Pye pitted on Lap 9 before a quick service from the pit crew to send the Nulon Supercar back out in clean air to pursue an undercut strategy.

Pye put in a series of strong laps to emerge a further three spots ahead in sixth once the full field completed their pit stops, before he receded a position to Waters in the closing stages to finish seventh.

Winterbottom drove a longer first stint and took his compulsory pit stop with 15 laps remaining. He rejoined in ninth position, before passing Randle for eighth on the penultimate lap.

Team 18 returns to the track tomorrow for Races 25 and 26 of the Repco Supercars Championship, with back-to-back qualifying kicking off at 10:55am.

All the action can be viewed live on Fox Sports and Kayo, with post-race highlights on Channel 7.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Mark Winterbottom, #18 IRWIN Racing Holden ZB Commodore

Practice 3: 21st (1:10.7725)
Qualifying: 6th (1:08.1305)
Race 24: 8th (Fastest Lap: 1:08.8235)

“We qualified sixth, which was great. I didn’t have the best start in the race, we’re struggling off the line a little bit at the moment, but we settled into a groove.

“I had a lock up at Turn 1, I was pushing on for a bit and had a front lock which cost me a few spots, so I probably could have been fifth in that race, but we had good pace at the end and finished eighth.

“We had a quick car in the dry, so we’ll give it a little tweak overnight and go again tomorrow.”

Scott Pye, #20 Nulon Racing Holden ZB Commodore

Practice 3: 6th (1:09.6499)
Qualifying: 11th (1:07.8286)
Race 24: 8th (Fastest Lap: 1:08.7168)

“In qualifying we had a few niggling problems with the car that kept us out of the top ten, but car speed was still quick.

“We qualified 11th, got those little things fixed up and moved forward to finish up seventh.

“Stoked with today, really happy for all the crew as well with a seventh and eighth for Frosty, so great points for the team.

“We have a bit of momentum now so we’ll try and back that up in the final two races tomorrow, with two qualifying sessions and two races to come there are plenty of opportunities to capitalise on our speed.”