Learnings gained for Team 18 in Adelaide Opener

The first round of the 2020 Supercars Championship has finished with a solid performance however some unlucky moments for both IRWIN Racing and DEWALT Racing at the Adelaide 500.

IRWIN Racing’s Mark Winterbottom showed early speed in Qualifying after progressing automatically to the second 14-car segment following his Friday practice results. Winterbottom qualified in 12th but received a kerb strike on a lap that would have put him well inside the top ten.

In Race 2, Winterbottom was pushed wide to avoid an incident on the opening lap, but stayed out of trouble and took the flag in 11th position.

New team recruit Scott Pye started 16th in the DEWALT Racing Commodore, however his race ended prematurely on the opening lap after he could not avoid contact with a spun car following an incident ahead of him on the blind exit of the Turn 9 hairpin.

The resulting damage was enough to rule Pye out from the remainder of the race, in a weekend that earlier included an overnight repair effort following a component failure during practice.

Team 18 returns to action for Round 2 of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship at Albert Park as a support series for the 2020 F1 Australian Grand Prix on March 12-15.

QUOTES
Mark Winterbottom - Driver, Team 18 #18 IRWIN Racing Holden Commodore ZB

That was a tough race today,” said Mark Winterbottom.

“I got a really good start before Reynolds got into de Pasquale at Turn 9 on the first lap which I had to avoid early on, but just didn’t have the pace later in the race.

“We experienced a few issues with throttle and steering so we’ll fix them, but we have a straight car at least and we’ll come back and fight at Albert Park.”

Scott Pye - Driver, Team 18 #20 DEWALT Racing Holden Commdore ZB

“I just got down to the Turn 9 hairpin and there was a car spun unsighted and I came around and was almost on the exit of the corner but clipped the front wheel and it pulled the suspension out of our car,” said Scott Pye.

“It’s really unlucky for the whole crew. Most crews have had a tough week in pit lane, but for us in particular we had a lot of bad luck with the component failure on Friday and to not score any points today is disappointing after a unavoidable incident.

“We’ll control, alt, delete this weekend and reset for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.”