Team 18 leave Bathurst 3rd in Driver & Team Championship

Two top-fives for IRWIN Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye’s storming drive to eighth in the DEWALT Commodore in Race 2 sees Team 18 leave the Mount Panorama 500 third in the Teams’ Championship following Round 1 of the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship.

After a wild lap in Sunday’s Top 10 Shootout, Winterbottom started sixth in Race 2 and got the undercut on Will Davison to take fifth place at the chequered flag.

After missing the shootout by eight-hundredths of a second, Pye moved into the top ten early in Race 2, before hustling his DEWALT Commodore up to eighth place in a speedy finish.

Winterbottom’s strong showing sees him third in the drivers’ standings following the season opener, with Pye sitting 12th after a first-lap incident in Race 1 saw him finish two laps down in 19th.

The Charlie Schwerkolt-owned squad sit third in the teams’ points behind powerhouse outfits Red Bull and Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Team 18 will head back to their Mount Waverley base before preparations begin for their home race at Sandown Raceway on March 20-21.

QUOTES

Mark Winterbottom, driver - #18 IRWIN Racing Holden ZB Commodore

“With two top=fives, fourth yesterday and fifth today, two shootout appearances, and third in the points, I couldn’t have asked for much more from our first round of the year,” said Mark Winterbottom.

“I’m so proud of everyone at Team 18, I’m proud of how hard they’ve worked to roll out a competitive package that didn’t miss a beat all weekend.

“I’m rapt with that and it was great to see the look on everyones’ faces when I hopped out of the car after that race.

“We head back to base now and put our heads down to keep up our results when we head to our home track at Sandown for round two.”