It was a disappointing end to the weekend in Phillip Island for Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing, with Scott Pye finishing race 10 in 11th, while James Courtney failed to finish due to a gearbox failure in the opening laps.
Sunday morning started off on a positive note, with some speed and car balance being unlocked overnight.
James Courtney qualified in seventh, and Scott Pye 12th for the 250km race around Phillip Island.
JC picked a spot up off the line to move into sixth, while Scott was elbows up a little bit further back, fighting for position with a gaggle of cars.
On lap six, JC’s afternoon ended a lot earlier than anticipated. A gearbox issue left him unable to find any drive, as he rolled to a stop at the final corner.
As that happened, Scott dived into the pits, but a late safety car, two laps after JC stopped, hurt him.
A shorter fuel load than most around him gave him initial track position for the second stint, but meant a longer stop next time by.
After the second stop, he popped out in 12th. Constant pressure forced an error from Winterbottom which handed him 11th, but as experienced yesterday, passing was tough.
It definitely wasn’t the weekend we had hoped leading in, but there were still positives to take. The cars improved overnight, Scott still pushed for another top 10, and JC was on for a really strong result.
Now we focus on Perth in two weeks time. The team will be straight back to work tomorrow making sure we are back up the front next time out.
Scott Pye
“We just didn’t quite get the balance right today in the race.
“Some things didn’t go our way during, we could have made a couple of more places up I think, but for 11th to be our worst result of the season so far shows the consistency is there.
“We will all be working hard this week to make sure we are back where we belong next time out in Perth, I cant wait to get over there.”
James Courtney
“The day started out really promising, the car was much better today, and was strong in qualifying.
“We didn’t get the result we deserved today, the car was great in the opening part of the race.
“A mechanical failure like that is really rare with this team, but that’s motorsport. Roll on Perth.”