Team 18’s recent rebound in form leads Mark Winterbottom to believe the squad is in good shape to end its podium dry spell at this weekend’s ITM Auckland SuperSprint.
Both Winterbottom and team-mate Scott Pye recorded equal season-best results last time out at Sandown, with each claiming separate fifth-place finishes.
It came after the Mount Waverley operation struggled for consistency at Townsville and The Bend.
Pukekohe is the home of Winterbottom’s last race victory with Tickford Racing in 2016, with the veteran looking to end his 133-race trophy-less run.
“I think Team 18 is really hitting their stride which is great,” said the Irwin Racing ZB Commodore driver.
“Pukekohe out of all the tracks we go to I feel really confident at.
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“It’s one I go to thinking ‘I’m going there for a trophy’, so we’ll see if we are good enough this time around.
“As a team, we have done a lot of work. The cars survived Sandown really well, they were fast, we were close to a podium there, so we have good momentum.
“We’re in good shape and the results will tell the story of how we perform.”
Pye, who has scored two podiums at Pukekohe (2015 and 2016), echoed the thoughts of his team-mate.
“Sandown was a great event for us, we rebounded and hopefully that’s the end of our bad luck and we can roll into the remainder of the year with some amazing events coming up and get some good results,” added Pye.
“It was nice to get some strong results under our belt at Sandown and have some consistency across the weekend.
“The reliability was great and we go to Pukekohe full of confidence and hopefully we get one more good round under our belt and you roll into Bathurst with fantastic momentum and full of optimism heading to the big race.”
This weekend’s New Zealand round will be the Repco Supercars Championship’s last at Pukekohe before the circuit shuts down to focus on horse racing.
It brings the end of an era for a circuit that even non-Kiwi drivers are fond of.
“I look forward to farewelling Pukekohe, it’s sad when you see these good tracks go,” said Winterbottom.
“I’m not a Kiwi but I love going there and it’s one of my favourite tracks, with the atmosphere of the fans on the hill, the vibe is amazing and the circuit itself is one of the great tracks and it’s been one I’ve got to race on a lot and had great success at.”
The opening practice session kicks off on Friday at 14:40 local time/12:40 AEST.
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