James Courtney has finished 14th, and Scott Pye 19th in Race 16 in Darwin.

Both cars struggled for balance throughout the race, and a right rear wheel nut issue in Pye’s second stop cost him a chunk of time, dropping him down the order.

The day started with a 20-minute qualifying session, where both cars missed out on advancing to the shootout by just 0.07 of a second. JC set the 13th quickest time, and Scott the 15th.

Both cars got away off the line cleanly for the 70-lap, 200km race, but found themselves in a freight-train of hot air.

JC was the first of the two cars to stop on lap 20, while Scott stopped a few laps later.

Different fuel loads for the second stint meant the corrected order was jumbled.

With 34 laps to go, Scott was called in the lane for his final stop, which was where the wheel nut issue occurred. It put further him down the order, and ruled out any opportunity to progress.

JC stopped 10-laps later, as the team opted for the longer-strategy, but the balance of the #22 wasn’t there to fight forward.

Next up we head to Townsville, but before that, we’ve got two weeks of hard work back at base.