Toyota Forklifts’ Scott Pye salvaged a top ten finish in the final race of the Perth SuperSprint as Team 18 completed Races 8 and 9 of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship at Carco.com.au Raceway.
Starting 18th and 11th respectively, Pye moved forwards in both races to finish 17th and tenth in Race 8 and 9 respectively.
DEWALT Racing’s Mark Winterbottom finished 18th in Race 8, but moved forwards in the final race from 25th to 19th.
Team 18 are back in action for the fourth event of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship at the Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint on 19-21 May.
RESULTS & QUOTES
Scott Pye, driver #20 Toyota Forklifts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Qualifying (Race 8): 18th (54.6196)
Qualifying (Race 9): 11th (54.5120)
Race 8: 17th (Fastest lap: 56.4409)
Race 9: 10th (Fastest lap: 56.1013)
“It was nothing other than a very difficult and challenging weekend, but nonetheless, we did improve the car today, which was great.
“We came home with the top 10. It’s a very small achievement, but it does feel like an achievement today because it was certainly a hard weekend, but one in which the team didn’t give up.
“Pit stops all weekend were great. It was just one of those weekends we couldn’t quite find the balance with the car.
“I had a good little battle at the end with Courtney which keeps you smiling when you have those moments, but unfortunately I couldn’t quite get past him.
“All in all, it’s been one of those weekends that we just didn’t find the sweet spot, but we did make inroads. We started at the back and finished up in tenth.
“We move on to Tasmania now. We’ve been to three very different circuits so far, and now we go to a fourth extremely different one with a very tight hairpin, and two long straights. I think our straight-line drive is probably one of our strengths.
“Unfortunately, this place required a lot of loaded lateral drive and that was certainly a weakness which then hurts tyre life as well, so I’m looking forward to going to a different track, seeing different challenges, and hopefully bouncing back to a stronger car than we had this weekend.”
Mark Winterbottom, driver #600 DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Qualifying (Race 8): 20th (54.7107)
Qualifying (Race 9): 25th (54.9790)
Race 8: 18th (Fastest lap: 56.5046)
Race 9: 19th (Fastest lap: 56.0644)
“It’s been a tough weekend. We just struggled for pace, both cars, all weekend. My 600th, I think that was the highlight of the weekend, obviously to hit that milestone, but I’m not going beat around the bush, we just have to work harder, make the cars faster and go again.
“Good thing about motorsport is it’s three weeks between a bad and a good weekend. We’ll get back to work, we’ve got a great team, great sponsors and great supporters.
“These weekends do hurt and they get you down, but we’ll bounce back, go home, regroup, and come back stronger in Tasmania.”