That’s the message from CEO Brenton Grove after a Townsville finale in which Matt Payne extended his points lead, while Kai Allen suffered a pit stop miscue.
Allen finished seventh in the Townsville finale having lost time when released from his pit box with the left-front wheel not fully fastened.
It was the latest pit lane miscue from the squad, which leads the teams’ and drivers’ championships thanks to a run of otherwise strong performances.
“We understand the package, we understand what the car needs to perform, but we’re not quite operationally where we need to be,” Grove said on Sunday.
“Matt was the second fastest car in the lane [on Sunday] and Kai was probably one of the last.
“We have it in us but we’re not doing it well enough and often enough and it’s costing us results.
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“That’s not a secret in the team. We all know what we need to improve on and it’s no shortage of hard work.
“I think the higher up the grid you get, the more you’re on show and some of the mistakes we’re making are probably more public than what they would have been in previous years.
“We need to fix that, but they’re nice growing pains. When you’re doing a good job as a team, you’re on show a bit more.”
Groves took the teams’ championship lead from Triple Eight in Darwin and was therefore at the top of pit lane for the first time in Townsville.
There Payne overhauled Triple Eight spearhead Broc Feeney, turning a 10 point deficit into a 92 point lead by the end of the weekend.
Asked if he feels any more pressure as the championship leader, Payne said: “I don’t think so.
“Our focus has always been on taking it race by race. We know our processes and we know what to focus on. I’ve never really had too much of a look at the championship.
“We try not to let that play in our heads too much and just focus on what we have to do and that’s just execute and run through our processes.”
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