News

Track: Queensland Raceway
Race:  Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint
Date:  24th July 2016

No. 12 Penske Truck Rental Ford - Fabian Coulthard
Qualifying 2:      P 15     Fastest Lap 1:09.82
Race 2:             P 10            

No. 17 Penske Truck Rental Ford - Scott Pye
Qualifying 2:      P 6     Fastest Lap 1:09.68
Race 2:             P 24         

Race 2 Recap: The final race of the Ipswich SuperSprint delivered a second Top 10 for Fabian Coulthard, but Scott Pye's race was compromised on Lap 2 when he was spun out by James Courtney.

The No 17 Penske Truck Rental Ford recovered well from the dramas of Saturday with Pye qualifying in sixth position. He then saw his race unfold early as the Courtney incident dropped him from eighth to twenty fourth. The team tried to adapt a strategy to give him some clear track but Pye could only recover to finish in twenty first position. A disappointing result after the huge effort the team had made to repair the car.

Coulthard also faced an uphill battle after qualifying in fifteenth, but once again showed the DJR Team Penske Fords are fast in race trim picking up five spots to finish in tenth – his second for the weekend. He had some great battles as he moved up the field but could not catch Todd Kelly in the closing laps.

The team will use the four week break to work on the performance of the cars before heading to Sydney Motorsport Park in late August.

Fabian Coulthard Quote: "To take a pair of Top 10’s in the Penske Truck Rental Ford this weekend is OK, but not where we need to be. Qualifying today hurt us but we are able to race forward each time. We had reasonable race pace but the strengths that are there in the car at the start are not there towards the end of each stint. You have to be consistent in this Championship in qualifying and racing but we are just not there yet."

Scott Pye Quote:  "It was good to get the Penske Truck Rental Ford into P6 in Qualifying. The crew had done a great job and the car felt very positive. I lost a little bit of ground off the line but my race was effectively over when Courtney drilled me at Turn 3 on the second lap. It cost me a heap of time and dropped me back to 24th. It is so unnecessary in the opening laps of a 200km race to be punting people and to recover is almost impossible. We just pushed on from there to finish and try and gain some points."