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Pye apologised to De Pasquale for Darwin clash

Scott Pye says he apologised to Anton De Pasquale for their Turn 1 contact in Darwin immediately after the race.

Scott Pye, Team 18 Holden

Scott Pye, Team 18 Holden

Edge Photographics

Pye clattered into the back of De Pasquale at the first turn on the opening lap, having tried to follow Shane van Gisbergen through on the pole-sitter. 

The contact left De Pasquale facing the wrong-way, which triggered a pile-up that included Mark Winterbottom, Fabian Coulthard, Todd Hazelwood, Jack Smith and Garry Jacobson.

Pye managed to get going again but his race was ruined, his final position a lowly 21st after serving a drive-through penalty. 

Straight after the race Pye went to apologise to De Pasquale for the contact, taking full blame for what happened. 

"First of all I wanted to go and apologise for wrecking Anton," he told Motorsport.com.

"It's hard there on the dust. You're committed on the braking and then you try and re-apply more. 

"[Van Gisbergen and De Pasquale] both had a little gap on me, maybe not as big as I thought, but once Shane passed him there was a gap between us. I think maybe Anton was looking at a switchback, I didn't realise that until I saw the replay. I think that's why was a little bit slower and I couldn't pull it up. 

"I clipped that apex kerb and that was it, I took him out. At the end of the day it was an error from me."

Pye said the incident was made significantly more painful by the fact he had a front-running car under him.

"I'm so apologetic to the team," he added. "I spent half that race saying sorry on the radio. 

"It's so hard, they've given me a car that could have won that race. I don't know if I'm good enough to have won that race, but the car was good enough. 

"I feel terrible for the guys because I cost them a result. The car is a jet. I need to pull my finger out and do it again tomorrow and hopefully I can say them back.

"If we're having a few beers over some trophies tomorrow maybe I won't feel so shit house."

 

 

De Pasquale, who failed to score points for only the third time this season, added: “Today started off really well. We made it through qualifying and into the shootout where I managed to put it on pole.

“Then what can I say about the race? It was over before it started. I just got hit from behind and that was the day done. I'm really disappointed. I know the crew will do an awesome job overnight getting the car ready for tomorrow, and we’ll go again.”

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Edition

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