After a positive weekend, it was a heartbreaking finish to the SuperNight at Sydney Motorsport Park, with both cars suffering from a front-end failure, ruining two strong results.
With under 30 laps to go, it looked like Scott Pye was a strong chance to finish fifth, and James Courtney sixth before the issue.
The boys were able to get Scott back out to be classified as a finisher, but JC didn’t have the same luck, ending the race in the garage.
Up until that point, the weekend was full of promise.
Last night, Scott Pye was second quickest on track, and this morning, JC was fifth fastest, which meant both cars advanced directly through to stage two of qualifying this afternoon.
JC just missed out on stage three, with the 11th quickest time, but Scott went on to qualify sixth after a strong lap in the dying minutes.
Come race time, things were looking good. JC got a blistering start, moving from 11th to sixth, while Scott was the first car in the field to stop, undercutting a few, and consistently fighting for a top five spot.
The failure occurred moments before our final stops of the race, which would have seen the boys back out on the road, ready for the top-five fight.
What happened next was hard to swallow and a moment that will sting for a little while.
Despite that, the weekend was full of positives. Both cars had speed, Scott’s qualifying performance showed some genuine improvement, and both cars were mixing it with the front group.
We will investigate the issue back at the workshop, before we put all our attention on our upcoming test day on August 14, our first since February.
Mathew Nilsson - Co-Team Principal
“We had a mechanical issue on both cars within a lap of each other, which is really frustrating, because there was a lot of potential today.
“The weekend was progressing really nicely, we made gains during, and the speed of the car was getting better and better.
“Scott’s qualifying result was pleasing, he was going really well in the race, and JC’s car was improving every stop, after the guys in pit lane did a great job to make a few changes.
“We will come back from this one and keep building. We are really looking forward to the upcoming test day, so we can understand these cars even more.”