Le Brocq qualified 20th at the Sydney SuperNight and was penalised for an unsafe release after contact with R&J Batteries Racing driver Andre Heimgartner during the first round of pit stops.
The Erebus Motorsport driver recovered to 18th after serving the 15-second penalty before his engine let go. It was a spectacular blow-up under lights as flames were captured glowing from under the car.
It wasn’t all bad news for the team, however. Teammate Brodie Kostecki rose from 18th on the gird to 10th after wholesale changes to his car.
The #1 Chevrolet Camaro received something of a birthday on Friday night with all four uprights changed as well as a transaxle.
“We struggled in qualifying today, that’s something we’ve all got to work pretty hard on tonight, to try and make sure we get that right,” said Le Brocq in a team video.
“It’s hard starting back where we did. We were both pretty fast, which was great, Bush [Kostecki] got to the top 10, which was pretty awesome.
“Unfortunately for myself, we were trucking along pretty well, had a pit lane infringement unfortunately, but some great pace in the car.
“Unfortunately the boys have got a donk to change overnight, so we’ll come back swinging tomorrow.”
JLB smokes up with 3 to go!
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— Supercars (@supercars) July 20, 2024
Reliability issues have plagued the team throughout 2024. In Race 10 at the Perth SuperSprint, Kostecki failed to finish owing to engine woes. Then he failed to start the next outing, Race 11 at the Darwin Triple Crown, due to an engine issue.
Le Brocq has twice befallen battery-related issues at the season-opening Bathurst 500 and started from pit lane in Perth.
Qualifying at the Sydney SuperNight for Race 16 gets underway at midday with a top 10 shootout at 1:40pm and the 51-lap race to follow at 4pm AEST.
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