The Shell V-Power Racing Team has identified and implemented a fix for its repeat pit stop woes at Sandown and Pukekohe.
Will Davison was cost the chance of victory in the final New Zealand race after the #17 Mustang was dropped without the left-rear wheel fully fastened.
Having started from pole position, it forced the Dick Johnson Racing driver out of a comfortable lead with two further trips down the pit lane.
One of those was for yet another left-rear wheel, and then again for a drive-through penalty as punishment for the initial stop.
That came after a bungled pit stop at the previous round at Sandown, although on that occasion it was the right-rear wheel which was loose.
DJR Team Principal, Ben Croke, admitted the squad was “heartbroken” after Pukekohe.
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Having had time to review the errors, Croke confirmed the cause of the issue was the same at both events and that a fix has been implemented.
“No procedural changes,” he explained to Speedcafe.com, alluding to the fix.
“We obviously had the issue at Sandown and at Pukekohe; we’ve identified what the issue was there and it’s not a procedure thing or anything like that.
“Our guys have been doing the same team with the same wheels for four-five-six years now so it’s nothing that they’ve done wrong.
“We’ve identified an issue that we’re pretty confident that we’ve fixed there.”
While a change has been made, the nature of a mid-race pit stop will not be the same as Sandown or Pukekohe for the remainder of the season.
The SuperSprint rounds are complete for the year, with only the 1000km enduro at Bathurst and a pair of 250km refuelling races at both Gold Coast at Adelaide to go.
Despite the fix, Croke admitted the approach to pit stops will be different anyway.
“We’ve finished the SuperSprint phase of the pit stop cycles,” he said.
“We’ve got five races of enduro type stops with one person per wheel and discs, drivers, and fuel, and all sorts of stuff like that.
“It’s a totally different ballgame to the format we’ve been doing.”
DJR completed a test at Queensland Raceway yesterday in preparation for the Great Race.
Anton De Pasquale will pair up with Tony D’Alberto in the #11 while Davison will have brother Alex as his co-driver in the #17.
The Repco Bathurst 1000 begins with opening practice at 11:00 AEDT on Tuesday, October 6.
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