How a coin toss settled Team 18’s chassis allocation
A coin toss has helped Team 18 randomly allocate the chassis which Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye will race in 2023.
All teams will have brand new cars at the disposal for the start of the Gen3 era.
Team 18 assembled its new Camaros in-house at its Mount Waverley base.
In a video released by the team, Winterbottom won a coin toss, which gave him the right to pull a ball out of a hat.
Winterbottom then pulled the ball out of the hat, held by Team Manager Bruin Beasley, to determine which chassis are allocated to the respective drivers.
The 2015 series champion drew a ball labelled ‘B’ and will drive chassis T18-002.
Pye will race chassis T18-001 in his fourth season with the team.
Pye sits in his new car
“We’ve hit the ground running in 2023 with a couple of new faces around the workshop who’ve brought a fresh energy into the team,” team owner Charlie Schwerkolt said.“Our engineering department contains a wealth of experience and talent which we feel will put us in the best spot to tackle the challenges brought on by the new technical regulations this year.
“We know the amount of work that’s been done to get our Camaros assembled has been huge so far, but I feel we’re in a really good position heading into the start of the new season.
“It’s a monumental occasion for the team to build our cars in house for the first time, and we’re proud to announce that our two cars will carry their own designation.
“This has been a team effort all the way through, with everyone pitching in to bring both cars to life.
"It made perfect sense for us to find out who would drive each car and that was by pulling it out of a hat in front of the whole team.
A 2021 render of a Team 18 Gen3 car
“Even now the cars have been allocated to a driver it won’t change how we prepare them right up to the point of hitting the track for testing and Round 1."
It comes after engines were randomly allocated to teams, with testing set to commence in the coming days.
Team 18’s new builds come after years as a Triple Eight customer.
The chassis have been supplied by Triple Eight, but Team 18 staff have assembled the cars in-house.
The team also confirmed its engineering line-up — Richard Hollway will continue on Pye’s car, and Manuel Sanchez remains with Winterbottom.
Mark Sylvester remains Data and Performance Engineer and will work on Pye’s car at race events.
Julia McGarry has joined as Data and Systems Engineer, and will work on Winterbottom’s entry.
The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Newcastle on March 10-12.
Tickets are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.
