Mixed Bag Results from Christchurch 🇳🇿

G'day guys,

What a four-race weekend in Christchurch. It had everything - a bit of heartbreak, a lot of learning, and some really positive signs to take into the rest of the year. Friday kicked off with the rescheduled Race 10 from Taupō. It was a chaotic start with some confusion over a safety car on the first lap, but once things settled I was running solidly inside the top 10. We went with four new tyres at the stop, which was the right call for tyre life later in the race, but it cost us track position. I battled hard through the second stint but just couldn't find that extra bit of pace to push to the front. Brought the Mobil 1 Optus Racing GR Supra home in eighth - a solid platform to build from and a heap of data to work through overnight. Race 11 on Saturday and I was elbows up early, pushing hard through the midfield in the first stint. The balance still wasn't quite where we needed it to be though, and despite fighting as hard as I could I just didn't have the speed to break away from the pack. Ended up P13, which obviously isn't where we want to be. Race 12 was on the SuperSoft tyre, always going to throw up a few question marks on strategy and degradation. I was moving forward inside the top 10 early and we made the call to go track position at the stops. It was on for all money in the pack and I fell on the wrong side of a few things, coming home P12. Sunday was a completely different story. The work the team put in overnight really paid off and the car was a lot more positive. I had a huge first stint, moving through the field and was running in fourth when things came undone - contact with Brodie late in the race earned me a 30-second penalty that dropped me to 17th. That one stings. The speed was genuinely there today and I'm proud of the effort, but we've just got to be cleaner. A lot more speed on our side of the garage which was pleasing. We finally made some inroads, especially with the race car, which we can build on for the next event. Everyone in here is hurting a bit tonight, but that's okay, we can use it going forward to make us stronger. Woody did such an incredible job these last two weeks, he should hold his head up high on what he and the whole team were able to achieve. So a mixed bag for Christchurch, the results don't tell the full story of the progress we've made. There were real signs of life this weekend and I'll be going into Tassie with a lot more confidence in where we're heading. Bring on Tassie. 

Cheers,

Chaz