Unwell Pither toils through cool suit failure

A cool suit malfunction ensured Race 16 in Darwin was a mission for an unwell Chris Pither.

Pither came home 23rd in the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown opener on Saturday.

The New Zealander was forced to complete the race with a failed cool suit.

What made matters worse was that Pither had been taken ill; he missed the morning signing session due to ill health.

Pither qualified a season-best 11th, but was sent into a spin by Will Brown at Turn 7 on lap 3.

He managed to finish the race, but it was a challenge given his work conditions.

“Obviously it’s the last place you want it to happen,” Pither said.

“It basically turned from a cold shirt into a hot shirt.

“It was a hard race, pretty disappointing after our best qualifying.”

Brown retired from the race due to damage, but Pither motored on.

The Kiwi had strong pace, but he dropped a lap and dragged himself to the chequered flag.

Despite his dramas, Pither paid tribute to his PremiAir Racing squad for producing a quick car.

“Got punted pretty heavily early on,” said Pither, who was battling with a raspy voice.

“I was just trying to hold position, there were cars going everywhere, it was quite tight.

“Got a serve there at Turn 7 which put me off and gave me a right rear puncture.

“Our race was basically done, trying to get to the end but the cool shirt failed at the start.

“It wasn’t that pleasant… the drink bottle was like drinking hot tea, it was not nice."

Cars will return on Sunday at 8:35am local time for dual ARMOR ALL Qualifying sessions.