Team 18 drivers react to team’s best ever weekend after double podium

The Charlie Schwerkolt owned and run Team 18 has posted its best ever showing in a round this weekend at Hidden Valley Raceway as both cars got into the top four at the end of the day’s racing.

After expanding to a two-car operation last year, speed has been coming throughout the season but was finally unlocked in Darwin, resulting in two podiums for Scott Pye in the #20 car as well as his team-mate Mark Winterbottom coming home fourth in race three.

Sunday was a big day for the squad, being able to out-race both factory Triple Eight entries who are the chassis suppliers to Team 18, with Pye’s final race performance being the standout by finishing on the podium from starting eighth on the grid.

Winterbottom showed the strength which won him a championship back in 2015 by getting past both Triple Eight cars of Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen on pace alone, attributing to his final position of fourth at the end of the last 38 lap outing.

Team boss Schwerkolt heralded his drivers’ efforts and the dedication of the team after being on the road, away from their families in Victoria for so long.

“Race 18 was a special race for Team 18, to beat the mothership of Triple Eight in customer cars in our first year as a two-car team is a massive achievement,” said Schwerkolt.

“As a benchmark you always measure yourself against the people that build our cars, and to beat them today is a massive boost for our team.

“Our drivers and crew haven’t seen their families in months, so to perform like this while on the road from our base is an amazing achievement.

“A double podium for Scott Pye today and fourth for Frosty in the last race is a fantastic way to end our time at Hidden Valley, we have learnt so much in these back-to-back weekends.”

An elated Pye said after the races that the results are a credit to the team as they continued to improve after he scored the squad’s first podium last round at the same venue.

“I’m so happy with the weekend,” said Pye.

“To get our team’s first podium last week and to now have three under our belt is a huge credit to the crew and the effort they are putting in with the stops and the car itself.

“The pit stops were unreal and the crew performed extremely well under pressure early as we went for a more aggressive strategy in the last race.

“We ran long in the first race and snagged a trophy, went short in the second race and also got a trophy. We could make either strategy work with the pace we had this weekend.

“I would have loved to see what we had if we pit in front of Percat in the second race and being able to press on with Scott. He was four seconds up the road and I think we could have maintained that gap.”

Winterbottom too sung the praises of his crew despite being disappointed at being unable to break his podium drought.

“The team should be so proud of their performance this weekend,” said Winterbottom.

“I feel like we did everything we could this weekend, some things didn’t go our way in the races but our race pace was up there and we were close to a podium in that last race.”

Team 18 now sits fifth in the team’s championship, within 100 points of Erebus Motorsport and 200 of Tickford Racing, both of which have won races in the past three rounds.