It was a disappointing finish to the New Zealand leg of the season for Mobil 1™ Boost Mobile Racing, with Scott Pye finishing race 29 in 15th, and James Courtney 16th.

Unfortunately, the car balance just wasn’t there for either driver, which made it tough to move forward any further than they did.

After a positive result for both sides of the garage in Saturday’s race, the team didn’t do a good enough job in qualifying this morning, resulting in Scott starting in 20th, and James in 21st for the 70 lap finale to round 15.

JC, like yesterday, opted to stop at the end of lap 1 for a short amount of fuel and clear air, while Scott waited until lap seven to make his way into pit lane.

With the field opting for a variety of different fuel strategies, both cars were driving to a lap time for the second stint.

Once final stops were made with 35 laps to go, the field settled, and Scott was in 15th, and JC 16th.

The closing stages of the race were uneventful, as both cars couldn’t move forward any further, but were able to defend those behind.

New Zealand has presented its challenges, but like any journey, there will always be a few speed humps along the way.

Now, we have one final round to reinforce the development gains we have made and look to add to our trophy collection this year.

Thanks as always for your support, let’s finish the year off together on a high.

Mathew Nilsson - Co-Team Principal

“After a strong performance by the team in yesterday’s race, today wasn’t what we hoped or have come to expect.

“We just didn’t give the guys the car they needed in qualifying today, so it’s something we will look at and address once in Melbourne.

“We’ve made some more positive steps in recent months, and while one bad day doesn’t change that, it shows we have to keep our heads down and work as a team to continue our journey.

“There are always going to be challenging days in a season, we’ve just got to make sure as a team we are making them further and further apart and less of them.

“We’ve got one more round to go, and all our efforts will be on finishing this year on a high.”