Pye apologetic over shock Bathurst practice crash
Scott Pye apologetic over shock Bathurst crash
Pye crashes out of Practice 2 at Mount Panorama
Triple Eight co-driver admits "ego is a bit hurt"
Scott Pye has admitted his “ego is a bit hurt” following his shock crash at The Cutting, which brought Thursday action in Bathurst to an early end.
Aboard championship leader Will Brown’s Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet, Pye lost control at The Cutting and clouted the concrete.
Pye walked away from the incident, but the #87 Chevrolet Camaro sustained significant right-side damage.
Ironically, the crash triggered a red flag that helped teammate Jamie Whincup seal top spot in the truncated session, with wildcard Cooper Murray second.
However, it was moot for Pye, who after winning the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 four weeks ago, has forced his team into overnight repairs.
"The ego is a bit hurt, I feel a bit young bloke, cold tyres... I'm just old, and it was the middle of the stint on warm tyres,” Pye said after returning to pit lane.
"I just made a mistake, The Cutting is tricky, I don't know. I didn't think I was off line that much, but I just lost the rear and that it was it, it was game over.
“Hopefully I haven't done too much damage, I feel terrible for the crew and for Will, but luckily it's the last session of the day and they can fix it overnight hopefully."
Thursday afternoon had already seen bizarre scenes, with an oil spill from an historic touring car leading to a session start delay due to a clean-up.
The delays were extended further when an Eastern brown snake was retrieved from Forrest Elbow.
Points leader Brown was optimistic over the state of the car despite the crash, saying: "Yeah, it's a super easy mistake to make.
"I guess get it out of the road before the race, it's one of those things, it's super easy to do, I've done it there, I think everyone's done it there.
"I'm sure Scotty will be a little upset with himself, but we'll get him back in the some high spirits before the race.
"I think it looks bad on TV obviously where it's torn out the wheel there, but hopefully it's not too bad. But you never know in these cars until you get them back here.
"I'm sure the boys and girls at Triple Eight, they'll get into it and get it all sorted."
Supercars will be back on track for Practice 3 on Friday morning at 10:05am AEDT. Tickets for the Repco Bathurst 1000 are on sale now.
