Scott Pye and Steven Johnson have been left perplexed by separate failures which took both Dick Johnson Racing Falcons out of contention in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
Pye experienced a wild ride when a suspected tyre failure sent the #16 Wilson Security Falcon spinning into the wall on Conrod Straight on Lap 71, 10 laps after the race had restarted following the red flag period.
Pye had also been one of several victims of the track break-up at Griffin’s Bend when he slid into the tyre wall just three laps before the race stoppage.
“The track was just ripped up,” explained Pye of the first incident.
“The race probably should have been red-flagged a lot earlier.
“I’d just jumped in the car so from when I drove the car in the first stint to when I drove the car in the stint that I got in then it was just completely different.
“I got down there and there was no grip at all – it was like driving on oil – so I just glanced the tyre wall and damaged the left side of it.
Pye explained that the red flag had allowed the team to stay in contention, before he suffered a similar right-rear tyre failure to that which caught David Wall out in car #17 in Thursday practice.
“It didn’t feel like a flat tyre. I think what’s happened is that the tyre’s delaminated and coming down Conrod the whole tyre has come completely off the rim and sent me hard left into the wall.
“It was weird – we didn’t damage the rear-right, it had never taken a hit all weekend, so whether we’ve run over something or whatever, I don’t know.
“It’s really disappointing because we had a really quick car – we were on old tyres and we were matching the guys in front us.”
Pye’s incident came just six laps after Johnson experienced a transmission problem and lost the rear of the #17 Falcon.
Johnson found the wall at Reid Park while leading the race on an alternate strategy.
“I was just taking it steady, I’d got the tyres up, and I was starting to push,” recounted Johnson.
“Just as I started to lift off there to go under Sulman Park heading towards Reid Park something’s happened to the transmission.
“The transmission’s snapped a main shaft or something and as I lifted off and turned in and got back in the throttle it basically had a box full of neutrals.
“You need that drive, that tension through the driveline to drive you off there and keep it settled, which is the reason why it spun.
“I kept it off the wall as much as I could and it didn’t really do that much damage but I was just sitting there trying to get gears and it just had nothing.”
While the routine weekend gearbox change was made earlier than usual due to the car’s Thursday crash, Johnson claimed that the unit “should have lasted the race.”
DJR’s horror Bathurst came as Team Penske president Tim Cindric and Penske-appointed 2015 team manager Jeff Swartwout joined the team on a fact-finding mission ahead of the American racing giant’s merger with the iconic Aussie squad.
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