Well today hurt, it’s definitely been a character-building type of day, one that will fuel us for tomorrow.
With gear sensor issues for Chaz and penalties dropping Ryan down the field, it wasn’t the day we were after.
The weekend started off with qualifying, one of the most intense sessions of the year, the pressure was on, with only 15 minutes to put together a lap, with the threat of kerb strikes high around this place.
Chaz put together a strong lap sitting at the top of the timesheets the entire qualifying session, finishing up P2 when the checkered flag was flown.
It was a different story with Ryan who was on a fast lap to slot him well within the Top 10 before the session was red flagged, meaning he would have to start down the back in P17 for the 250km race in the afternoon, a good effort for his first qualifying here.
As the sun was beaming and the lights went out, both cars got off the line strong but on the opening lap Car 2 hit the wall dropping Ryan to the rear of the field.
With fantastic car speed, Ryan made his way back up to P14, but whilst trying to find the limit and getting to know his way around the track, Ryan received three penalties for exceeding track limits dropping him to P22.
Chaz’s day became extremely difficult very early, with a gear sensor issue. On-track, it impacted his ability to shift, but in pit lane was the worst element.
The issue meant the ECU was unable to determine what gear the car was in, the car wasn’t able to get to the pit-limiter speed. It was crawling down pit lane both stops, losing nearly 30-seconds in the lane alone. It was gut-wrenching to watch.
He pitted from P2 in the first stint, fought like crazy for the rest of the day, but 10th was as good as it could get today losing that much track time.
He will have his angry eyes on tomorrow, we are out for redemption for everyone.
Ryan Wood
Really tough afternoon, feel terrible for everyone for all their hard work and support.
Ended up in the fence on lap 1 which made it tough, and then the penalties topped it off. Need to do some homework tonight on why we were getting them to make sure that’s not a problem tomorrow.
Car was really fast, so that’s the positive. Out to finish strong tomorrow for everyone.
Chaz Mostert
Gutted for the team and our sponsors. The race car was really quite speedy and it felt like we were on for a surf board today, so yeah, I’m a just gutted for everyone involved.
It just wouldn’t run on the speed limiter, felt like I was walking up pit lane at one stage.
Redemption day tomorrow.