IRWIN Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and Nulon Racing’s Scott Pye placed 14th and 19th respectively in the first race of the Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight.

Pye and Winterbottom shared the eighth row of the grid for the start of Race 10 after qualifying in 15th and 16th respectively. The times were extremely tight around the 2.41km circuit, with less than one-tenth of a second splitting 15th all the way up to sixth in the second part of qualifying.

Winterbottom got off the line well and dove down the inside of Le Brocq to take 14th spot into Turn 1 as Pye also moved up to 15th.

The pair ran nose-to-tail for the opening laps, forcing Pye into an early stop to prevent a potential double stack situation.

Pye stopped on Lap 15 while Winterbottom stopped four laps later, both taking tyres on the heavier-loaded left-hand side.

Pye emerged in the thick of a battle pack and was subsequently pushed back behind Jones and Brown before tyre life prevented a challenge late in the race.

Winterbottom rejoined in effective 14th position where he remained for the finish, while Pye hung on for 19th.

Team 18 returns to Wanneroo Raceway tomorrow for Races 11 and 12 of the Repco Supercars Championship at the Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight.

QUOTES & RESULTS

Mark Winterbottom, driver #18 IRWIN Racing Holden ZB Commodore

Practice 1: 18th, (fastest lap: 54.9101)

Practice 2: 6th (fastest lap: 54.2125)

Qualifying (Race 10): 16th (fastest lap: 53.9164)

Race 10: 14th (fastest lap: 55.4228)

“Tough day, not quick enough in qualifying and better race car but it was follow-the-leader out there. There was minimal passing so tomorrow we’ve got to qualify better and make the car quicker in qualifying-trim.”

“The crew will have a late night and a very early start tomorrow, but we’ll work hard and find some gains overnight to aim a bit further forward tomorrow.

Scott Pye, driver #20 Nulon Racing Holden ZB Commodore

Practice 1: 22nd (fastest lap: 55.2335)
Practice 2: 12th (fastest lap: 54.3086)
Qualifying (Race 10): 15th (fastest lap: 53.9164)
Race 10: 19th (fastest lap: 55.4073)

“A pretty rough night, we finished P19.

“Qualifying was extremely close, we were 0.07 off sixth place but we qualified 15th, so we were just on the back-end of that one-tenth bubble and that dictated the rest of the night.

“We pitted early to avoid the double-stacking risk behind Frosty as he was right in front of me and that compromised our strategy a bit, but tomorrow we have another two qualifying sessions and another two races, so plenty of opportunities to come.”