Schwerkolt’s delight at trumping ‘mothership’

An excellent weekend at Hidden Valley has seen Team 18 skyrocket up the teams’ championship standings as they continue to go from strength to strength while on the road.

The Holden squad are one of five Supercars outfits to have taken on a nomadic lifestyle since rushing out of their Victorian home state in early July.

Promising flashes of speed didn’t fully translate into results at the two Sydney Motorsport Park rounds but they made up for lost time with a trio of podiums for Scott Pye across the recent Darwin doubleheader.

Pye and teammate Mark Winterbottom were on the pace from the get-go at the weekend, the former’s DEWALT Commodore setting the pace in opening practice.

They would go on to finish fourth and seventh respectively in the round points – a three-four result in the final race ahead of both Red Bull Holdens being a highlight.

“Race 18 was a special race for Team 18, to beat the mothership of Triple Eight in customer cars in our first year as a two-car team is a massive achievement,” said team boss Charlie Schwerkolt.

“As a benchmark you always measure yourself against the people that build our cars, and to beat them is a massive boost for our team.

“Our drivers and crew haven’t seen their families in months, so to perform like this while on the road from our base is an amazing achievement.

“A double podium for Scott Pye [yesterday] and fourth for Frosty in the last race is a fantastic way to end our time at Hidden Valley, we have learnt so much in these back-to-back weekends.

“We’ve got some really smart people in our new team and I can see a strong bond building within the group of experienced heads and eager young up-and-comers.”

Their weekend performance has been rewarded in the teams’ title race, leaping from eighth to fifth in a hotly contested mid-pack.

Just 28 points separate Team 18 and its close trailing rivals: The Brad Jones Racing pair of Nick Percat and Todd Hazelwood, the Tickford Racing duo of Cameron Waters and Jack Le Brocq, and eighth-placed Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Penrite Racing aren’t too far ahead in fourth either, after a surprisingly poor set of Darwin results.

“We’ve made a massive gain in the teams’ championship, climbing three spots to fifth ahead of some incredibly well-credentialed outfits,” added a proud Schwerkolt.

“The last seven weeks this team have been living, eating and doing everything together and they have all bonded really well during this time.”

The NTI Townsville SuperSprint is next on the calendar, running this August 29-30 weekend.