2023 Penrite Oil Sandown 500, Event 9 of the Repco Supercars Championship, Sandown, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 15 Sep, 2023.

DEWALT Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and Michael Caruso qualified in 13th position for the Sandown 500, while Toyota Forklifts’ Scott Pye and Warren Luff will begin Sunday’s race from 21st.

The day kicked off with the fourth and final practice session, where both Winterbottom and Pye honed their skills in preparation for qualifying. The picturesque Sandown circuit, blessed with clear skies and temperatures in the mid 20s, set the stage for an intense session to set the grid for the 500.

Qualifying was highly competitive, with the field tightly packed in the closing stages. This left teams with ultimately one lap to deliver a standout performance. Winterbottom narrowly missed out on the Top 10 Shootout by a mere seven-hundredths of a second, and although both drivers qualified outside the top 10, they remain optimistic about Sunday’s 161-lap race.

Sunday’s action at the Sandown 500 will start with a warm-up session at 10:10 am AEST, followed by Race 23 of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship at 2:15 pm AEST. Fans can watch all the action live on Fox Sports and Kayo.

RESULTS & QUOTES

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

Practice 4: 13th (1:09.1116)

Qualifying: 13th (1:08.9114)

“Tough day today, we didn’t fix the weaknesses from yesterday and kind of maintained where we were, 13th yesterday and13th today.

“I thought it was a good lap and sort of maximised what I had. Tomorrow’s a big day. We still need to make the car faster, but we won’t give up. It’s a long race, so if we can get the car where we need it to be and we’ll have a big swing again tonight, we come out tomorrow with a good chance.

“The crew’s doing an amazing job with pit stops, reliability and mechanicals and all that side’s great, we just need to sharpen her up and hopefully get the car where it needs to be and Caruso will do a good job and we’ll work hard together with that experience, so we know what to do.”

Scott Pye, #20 Toyota Forklifts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 4: 21st (1:09.3531)

Qualifying: 21st (1:09.0303)

“Tough day today, we’re just out of the window with the car but we’re still working hard and hopefully we can find something tomorrow in practice before the big 500.

“It’s a long race and anything can happen so still optimistic. Obviously today didn’t go to plan but we’ve still got a big day tomorrow.”