Sunday Wrap: Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint
Frosty bounces back with sixth in Race 4
Team 18 had a solid showing on Sunday at Symmons Plains, with two top-seven finishes for IRWIN Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and results of seventh and 13th for Seiko 5 Sports Racing’s Scott Pye.
The day started strong for the team with Winterbottom qualifying third for Race 4 and Pye in seventh. Winterbottom and Pye qualified 10th and 12th for Race 5 respectively after a red flag brought the session to a close as cars set off on their final flying laps.
Race 4 saw Winterbottom and Pye drop a spot each on the opening lap before the race was suspended for an incident involving Heimgartner and Le Brocq. Pye was in the thick of the action and narrowly avoided being collected by Slade after his clash with Waters down the back straight at half race distance. Winterbottom sat in the top five for most of the race before he dropped to sixth in the closing stages, with Pye finishing three seconds behind in seventh.
Both drivers moved forwards into the top ten at the start of Race 5. Winterbottom emerged in seventh after the pit window, while Pye lost a couple of positions in the pit lane and emerged in 13th place where they remained to the finish.
Overall it was a great at comeback for the team after a tough start to the season at Sydney Motorsport Park, with a short turnaround of less than a week to prepare the cars for Round 3.
In the Drivers’ Championship, Winterbottom sits in 13th on 292 points while Pye improved to 17th on 232. Team 18 moved forward in the Teams’ Championship to seventh on 524 points.
Round 3 of the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship is on track in less than a fortnight as the major support category for the 2022 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on April 7-10.
QUOTES & RESULTS
Mark Winterbottom, driver #18 IRWIN Racing Holden ZB Commodore
Qualifying (Race 4): 3rd (50.6480)
Qualifying (Race 5): 10th (50.9388)
Race 4: 6th (Fastest Lap: 52.0724)
Race 5: 7th (Fastest Lap: 52.2738)
“Today was a lot better today after quite a tough race yesterday.
“We rolled out today and qualified third for the first race, in the second one we were on an absolute ripper of a lap when the red flag came out so we started 11th there. But I think the front couple of rows for both races were on.
“We didn’t have the best race pace but to be sixth and seventh with two top-ten results is positive for the team so we’ll regroup and get ready for the Grand Prix.”
Scott Pye, driver #20 Seiko 5 Sports Racing Holden ZB Commodore
Qualifying (Race 4): 7th (50.7737)
Qualifying (Race 5): 13th (50.9523)
Race 4: 7th (Fastest Lap: 52.2080)
Race 5: 13th (Fastest Lap: 52.3911)
“It was a pretty solid weekend for us with two sevenths and a 13th in the last race.
“The last race was a bit unlucky for us, just a couple of things didn’t go our way so unfortunately we didn’t get the result we would have liked.
“Overall a great weekend, a good points haul and it was great to bounce back like we did after a tough weekend in Sydney.
“A huge shoutout to the crew, they’ve done an amazing job this weekend, it’s a tough weekend these ones with three races, short turnarounds and a late night on Saturday but we’re very happy.
“We’ve come away back in the hunt with some good points and we head to the Grand Prix with a straight car and a fast car and hopefully we can back it up and get a couple of top fives.”