WALKINSHAW Andretti United is firmly on the back foot ahead of the biggest Supercars race of the year.
For a team that started the Gen3 era well with Chaz Mostert the early championship leader, the Sandown 500 was rock bottom.
Neither WAU Mustang looked in contention at any point across the weekend, and the final result was 22nd for Mostert/Lee Holdsworth and 23rd for Nick Percat/Fabian Coulthard.
It mightn’t have been quite so dire for Mostert/Holdsworth if not for sustaining early rear-end damage, and a 15-second penalty for late contact with Declan Fraser.
“Clearly we struggled with car set-up all weekend,” said WAU team principal Bruce Stewart.
“We threw a lot at it, but the difficulty with the Gen3 car is that the driver doesn’t have the ability to manipulate the set-up through the race with the anti-roll bars.
“So when you start with a difficult car then you cannot tune it up through the race.”
Stewart said the Sandown struggle has WAU doubling down on a better Bathurst.
WAU in fact is on an impressive six-year streak of Great Race podium finishes dating back to Scott Pye/Warren Luff’s second place in the 2017 edition.
“It’s a kick in the guts that ensures we will doing everything we can for the big one,” Stewart added.
The 2023 Repco Bathurst 1000 will take place on October 5-8.
