IRWIN Racing’s Mark Winterbottom scored a ninth-place finish in Race 31 of the Repco Supercars Championship on Saturday at the Gold Coast 500, while Alspec Racing’s Scott Pye finished 17th after running in the top ten in the closing stages.
Qualifying saw Pye miss the top ten shootout by a mere three-hundredths of a second to start the race in 11th, with Winterbottom a further eight-hundredths behind in 13th.
Winterbottom made a strong start, passing four cars in the opening laps, as Pye also moved forwards into the top ten after the first round of pit stops.
The pair followed each other in ninth and tenth respectively heading into the final ten laps. Winterbottom hung on to finish ninth, while Pye was forced to pit with four laps remaining in order to complete the minimum 140 Litre fuel drop and finished 17th.
Team 18 returns to action tomorrow for Qualifying at 9:55am AEST before the final race of the Gold Coast 500 at 2:15pm AEST, live on Channel 7 and Fox Sports.
RESULTS & QUOTES
Scott Pye, #20 Alspec Racing Team 18 Holden ZB Commodore
Qualifying: 11th (1:11.0307)
Race 31: 17th (Fastest lap: 1:11.6712)
Mark Winterbottom, #18 IRWIN Racing Team 18 Holden ZB Commodore
Qualifying: 13th (1:11.1101)
Race 31: 9th (Fastest lap: 1:11.7737)
“We made a top ten finish which was good, started 13th and finished ninth.
“I made a mega start, I passed about four cars off the line which was awesome and then I had to conserve fuel for a lot of that race.
“I had all my kerb strikes used early so there was a bit going on, but to finish ninth was a solid day.
“The car is in good condition, so we’ll fix it up tonight and we’ll go again tomorrow.”