Sunday was a tough finish to a weekend where there were positives and progress.
At the end of the 200km race around Sydney Motorsport Park, James Courtney was 16th, and Scott Pye 18th.
Both cars lacked the pace they showed yesterday in qualifying, with Scott starting p17, and JC p18 for the race.
A safety car on lap 10 dragged the boys up just outside the top 10, as JC had stopped one lap previous, and Scotty dived in with the field.
They both held their ground in the second stint, with Scotty stopping a second and final time 22 laps from home, and JC 18.
Scott had the better pace at the start of the final stint, pushing as high as 11th, before struggling with tyre life, eventually slipping back down the order.
Despite JC having the older tyres, his car looked after them much better, closing out the race with good speed, just no track position.
Overall, we’ve tried some more things this weekend which was the plan from the outset.
We take the positives from yesterday, but also acknowledge the weaknesses from today’s race.
Before we head to Sandown to start enduro season, we have our third and final test day at Winton next week, which gives us the opportunity to continue to develop the car, try some different things, and get the co-drivers more laps behind the wheel.
Scott Pye
“It sounds funny but the car today was the best car I’ve driven all year. The first two stints, the car did it easy, we had pace, and the signs were good.
“I’m not sure what happened in the end, we will have to go back and look at the data, but it just fell off a cliff, which was a disappointing way to finish up.
“Overall, it was a good weekend, one I walk away from with more understanding, and a positive outlook for the next few races.”
James Courtney
“We just didn’t have the car speed today.
“Qualifying was tough, and the opening stage of the race we just couldn’t find the right balance.
“It did look after the tyre well in the final stint, but the race was over by that stage.
“Time to go test some more stuff and switch into endurance mode.”