Clayton Pyne Racing

Articles from all Events

07/04/2008

CLAYTON PYNE has finished 19th overall at the second round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series at Wakefield Park.

It was a frustrating & testing outing for Pyne, who battled a very over-steering car all weekend. Despite the setup issues throughout the weekend, Pyne showed solid speed in the final race of the weekend progressing forward to be as high as 14th.

After qualifying 24th Pyne moved forward in race one to finish 19th.

A tough start to race two, getting checked in the opening laps, saw Pyne drop a few positions.

"It was such a rough and tumble opening few laps, we got a bad run from turn three to six and got pushed wide which made for hard work from there", Pyne lamented.

"We certainly don't seem to have the car speed in the first phase of the race" Pyne said elaborating on a challenging race two. The over-steer just doesn't let us push and be able to run at the speed of the cars around us in the opening laps".

The drivers greeted the starter for a shortened race three, after a multi-car-pile-up led to a complete restart. Once the race got back underway, Pyne showed improved speed, moving up to be as high as 14th position.

The track was completely blocked and the plume of dust ensured zero visibility, Pyne reflected on the first turn pile up.

"I drove toward turn two very slowly, realising that with that amount of dust, there had to be cars there somewhere. It was lucky I took such caution, because I pulled up just in time saving my own car, and avoiding further damage to anyone else. There were already some very torn up cars there. It's very unfortunate when you see a wreck like that".

Being out of a race car for over twelve months and running inside the top 15 in race three, Pyne was pleased, but was hoping for a stronger performance on his return to the series.

"The car is very different to the car I drove last year at Clipsal. Updates to the front end geometry have dramatically changed the balance of the car. We tried a lot of adjustments, but I struggled with varying levels of over-steer all weekend. I just couldn't push the car through the tight twisty layout without feeling like I would lose the rear-end from the apex out. It was a tough weekend for us".

Race Image Chief, David McMahon, felt Clayton did a solid job.

"Clayton drove well this weekend and despite being away from a race seat for twelve months, he showed speed particularly in race three moving inside the top fifteen" said McMahon.

"We are still getting on top of the front-end geometry of the car & with more time in the seat, we are excited at the potential Clayton brings to the team".

However, Pyne is not yet confirmed for the remainder of the 2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.

"We had some great support from Express Software, Carline Mufflers, Auto One and United Synthetic Specialists in order to make it this weekend [but] we need to keep working hard to make sure we are back on the grid at Sandown in June", Pyne said.

"I really need to secure a full year in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, so we can approach it more holistically. These are very unique cars to drive and it is certainly a challenge to compete without any testing or planned & ongoing seat-time".

In looking forward to Sandown, Pyne is hopeful of simply getting more laps.

"It would be great to do a test day & make it to Sandown, but at this stage that depends on the business side of things. It's a real positive I have two months to work on that "lets hope we make it", Pyne enthused.

The third round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series will be held at Sandown International Raceway June 7-9.