GARRY JACOBSON: P16
CHRIS PITHER: P19
Day one at the Apple Isle is complete with the weather turning it on and the sun shining bright. The first race of the Tasmania SuperSprint was just that, a sprint to the end and not short of action.
Chris started in P16 and Garry in P20 for his 100th Championship race start after power steering issues ended his qualifying session early.
Both drivers getting a strong start and keeping clear of carnage before settling into their rhythm. Chris moving up to P15 by lap 3 and Garry sitting comfortable behind him in 16th, making up 4 positions.
Both drivers opted for an early 2 tyre pit stop strategy to reduce time in the pits and maximise track time. Chris pitting on lap 16 bringing him out in P22. Unfortunately, a 15 second penalty hurt Chris’s race and the team chose to take this in his stop. Garry in shortly after on lap 18 and slotting into P21 on exit.
Garry crossed the finish line in P16 and Chris P19. Both boys bringing the cars home in one piece and carnage free.
The boys will be focusing on qualifying tomorrow to start both races further up the grid.
GARRY JACOBSON
“We treated the race like a mechanical fix for us, we had some gremlins from qualifying due to a power steering issue, but it appears to be fixed so that’s a great response from the team being able to dissect what it was and get it sorted. Well done crew.
“I still struggled with a bit of speed, performance of pace, little bit vulnerable to people at turn 4. I just had to pick my battles today, I knew that my day would come, maybe tomorrow and I’ll be faster then but today was about staying out of trouble and try to survive.
“Hopefully, tomorrow we can go out with a reset button and try and go a little bit quicker in quali, we don’t need much, two tenths I’d be very happy with and try and use that to learn and extract a better result tomorrow. Chris had a great quali so well done to him, I’ll look at his data and that’s what this year is all about, leveraging our teammate when we can, whoever is going strong on the day and work as a team to move forward.”
CHRIS PITHER
“My race start wasn’t the best, just didn’t get a good launch but I settled into a comfortable place and then got muscled out at the end of the 3rd lap. Once we got going again and found a bit of rhythm, the car felt pretty good, and I feel our pace was good.
“Overall, the race was positive, obviously our PLP didn’t help our cause but overall, I’m happy and looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow. Our quali was reasonable, there is more available, and we know we can improve on that tomorrow. Car felt strong and I’m looking forward to giving it another go tomorrow.”
