Today was tough on all fronts, with race 11 turning bad very quickly.
Qualifying wasn’t good enough, with JC setting the 21st fastest time, and Scott the 23rd.
That meant we were going to be caught up in the opening lap chaos, which found JC out pretty quickly.
With nowhere to go, he hit Todd Kelly in the rear. The stewards handed him a 15 second penalty to be served at his first stop.
Adding insult to injury, that penalty couldn’t be served while under safety car, which meant he had to wait until the safety peeled off, and the entire field went past while sitting stationary.
As for Scott, what looked like a promising result went wayward after that same safety car.
His pace was matching the leaders all race, but as the green flagged dropped, he made contact with Will Davidson, giving him a right front puncture and forcing him into pit lane.
That meant both drivers spent the final stint in clear air…. just not the good kind.
They were two of the fastest cars right until the end, but it didn’t mean much.
Time to regroup overnight and try and fix the qualifying issue, that will push us further up the grid.
From the cockpit
Scott Pye
“Overall it was a disappointing day.
“Not sure what happened with Will on the restart, maybe he didn’t see me, but we made contact and it punctured the front right.
“Before that happened, it was looking good. We were moving up the field, the car looked after its tyres well, and we were quick after the first stop.
“We’ve just got to work on our qualifying speed for tomorrow.”
James Courtney
“That one didn’t go to plan.
“I didn’t have anywhere to go on the first lap, and then the safety car fell at the wrong time.
“We were the fastest car on track for the final stint, but were just too far back.
“Onwards and upwards tomorrow.”