DJR Team Penske battle practice tyre quality
August 21, 2015
EASTERN CREEK, SYDNEY, 21 AUGUST 2015: The MAN Truck and Bus Ford Falcon FG X of Scott Pye has finished the first day of practice for the Sydney SuperSprint in a promising position after what was again a day dominated by tyres.
Marcos Ambrose took the wheel in the Co-Driver only session and posted a very strong time to end in P5. Prior to handing the car over to Scott Pye, Ambrose showed good form in his third outing in these additional Practice sessions in the DJR Team Penske Falcon.
Pye was caught with a mixed bag of tyres offering little in performance gains for the crew. He posted a Top 10 time in the first 60 minute session, however the second session saw a number of drivers using a new tyre early then reverting to a soft tyre option. Scott had little left in his used soft tyre and ran the new tyres towards the end of the day. Of those setting their time on the hard tyre, Scott was comfortably in the Top 10, however overall finished the day in P 19. This highlighted the nuances of the mix of tyres on the practice day.
Qualifying will take place tomorrow with the traditional two x 60km sprints to open the racing for the V8 Supercars Championship round.
SCOTT PYE – #17 MAN TRUCK & BUS FALCON FG X
'At the end of the day we finished up pretty well amongst the 'Hard' tyre runners. On the used tyre we used this morning we were unsure if the MAN Ford would get the gain we needed once we bolted the new tyre on.
'We really did not know who was on what rubber which is the normal Friday problem. It is all about the tyres and it is a constant problem. We didn't have enough good tyres to run practice and we never do.
'In the final session other guys went out on their new set at the start, in the middle and at the end. At the start of P2, we ran an old set of softs which were slower than our hard tyre! So to finish where we did was not too bad.
"There are few things to make me more comfortable in the car and for sure we need to find a better balance to get a bit closer to those front guys in Qualifying."
MARCOS AMBROSE – #17 MAN TRUCK & BUS FALCON FG X
'Once again we were out on old tyres, but I feel the car has come along very well. I fell more comfortable in the car at each outing. Although it is minimal laps, we are getting the car and team in a good position for the Endurance Series."