David Reynolds and Andre Heimgartner say they were both sitting ducks after going out too early in qualifying at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown.
The Kelly Grove Racing pair were among those only to set one flying lap in Part 1 of Qualifying.
That proved to be costly as the track evolved rapidly, allowing those who set times late in the session to surge forward.
Among those to fall foul to the conditions and miss making it through to Part 2 were James Courtney (Tickford Racing), Will Brown (Erebus Motorsport), Jack Le Brocq (Tickford Racing), and Will Davison (Dick Johnson Racing).
Meanwhile, pegged in second-to-last and last respectively were Reynolds and Heimgartner.
“All the cars that only ran once in that first session got knocked out,” Heimgartner told Speedcafe.com.
“I think there was a lot of track evolution from the start of the session to that last run, so in hindsight, we should have done two runs but it was just going quicker and quicker which is really weird throughout those first few laps.
“I don’t think the car is amazing but I think also the evolution of the track really screwed us. A lot of people went nearly a second faster on the second run, so I think it’s just one of those things.
“Very annoying.”
It was a similar story for Reynolds, who echoed his team-mate’s sentiment.
“We just weren’t fast enough on our first set of tyres and the track evolution was so big that if we ran again we would have been safe, but we just weren’t fast enough straight up,” said Reynolds.
“Everyone that ran a second time went nine tenths, seven tenths of a second faster. Obviously yesterday wasn’t like that at all. I don’t know what was on before us, I’m not really sure
“We have still got to try to go forward but both cars are dead last, so you can’t get much worse. The last time I qualified this badly was Austin 2013, I was second last.”
Heimgartner admitted Race 12 is all but a write off with his focus firmly on Race 13 and Race 14 tomorrow.
“Tomorrow we’ve got lots of tyres to have a bit of fun, so just get through today, what happens happens, and we’ll go from there,” said Heimgartner.
Race 12 of the season, a 38-lapper, is officially due for a start at 15:25 local time/15:55 AEST.
