Pye hails 'crazy' Team 18 rebuild effort

Scott Pye has paid tribute to his Team 18 crew following a spirited repair effort on his damage car.

Pye's #20 Commodore has been fixed in time for this weekend’s Pizza Hut Winton SuperSprint.

It comes after the car sustained major damage following a heavy crash in Perth earlier this month.

Pye crashed at the end of the opening lap of Race 11 at Wanneroo Raceway after contact with Jack Le Brocq.

Such was the impact, that the race was suspended as officials repaired a damaged gate on pit straight.

Pye suffered a 10G impact in the crash; the damage ruled him out of Race 12.

The team began the repairs once the car return to its Mount Waverley base.

There, the team raced against time to complete extensive repairs, with only two weeks until the next round at Winton.

"Extremely proud of everyone here as a team,” Pye said.

"Everyone has ripped in and got my car built in a crazy turnaround time.

"I’m really impressed with how fast they’ve been able to do this, the amount of work that’s gone into it.

"It’s been a huge team effort, so I’m excited to get to Winton and get a good result to say thank you."

Pye joined teammate Mark Winterbottom at a test day at Winton last Tuesday.

There, the duo shared seat time aboard Winterbottom’s #18 IRWIN Racing Commodore.

"It was a good opportunity to test Frosty’s car last week with mine out of action," Pye said.

"It gave me a good chance to do some laps and being a local event it’s nice for everyone after a big rebuild to not travel too far away from home.

"I think Winton’s going to be a challenging event and it will really come down to car speed as we’ve seen there it’s difficult to overtake. 

“Strategy is going to be a tough one as the undercut and overcut is quite a small margin.

"It’s going to be difficult to nail that and make up places, so qualifying is going to be key."

Pye is 18th in the points with teammate Winterbottom in 12th.

Team 18 is eighth in the teams' standings heading to Winton.

The 2022 season will resume at Winton this weekend. Purchase your tickets now.