With only a handful of Pirtek Enduro Cup co-driving positions yet to be filled, Chris Pither is hopeful his Dunlop Series round win at the Castrol Townsville 500 – driven by TAFE Queensland – will lead to one of the remaining seats.
The Brad Jones Racing driver recorded his first ever race win under controversy in Saturday’s opening race, when Cam Waters was handed a time penalty for contact with race leader Ash Walsh on the final lap.
Pither then backed it up with a fifth place in Sunday’s race, securing the round victory over fellow New Zealander Andre Heimgartner, and Paul Dumbrell.
The Kiwi young gun believes his performance at Townsville is proof he has what it takes to be on the grid for the enduros.
“The round win couldn’t have come at a better time,” he said.
“I’ve been making gains at each round this year and it all came together at Townsville. It’s made me real hopeful that I will get one of the remaining endurance drives.”
Brad Jones Racing is yet to name Dale Wood’s co-driver,while Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport has a vacancy with Russel Ingall. The announcement of three wild card entries has also opened up new seat opportunities for the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
Over the past two endurance seasons, Pither has piloted the #21 Brad Jones Racing entry alongside David Wall, and has his sights set on returning to the team to partner Wood over the three endurance events.
It is believed BJR will make an annoucement on the seat soon.
“Obviously the wild card means more seats are available now but I’m hopeful I’ll be back in the #21 seat again this year,” Pither said.
“The team has a great environment and it would make life easy to be doing the enduros with the same team as I’m used to working with.”
The 27-year-old is eyeing qualifying pace and consistency as he heads into the fifth round of the series at the Coates Hire Ipswich 400 this weekend.
“I just need to focus on my own race and keep doing what I’m doing. I need to qualify better because there is only about a tenth of a second between third and sixth and I’ve qualified fifth three times in a row now,” explain Pither.
“I’m confident we have the race pace to be up there as long as I can start a bit further toward the front.”
The Coates Hire Ipswich 400 reverts to a one qualifying session format with a 29-lap race on Saturday and a 29-lap, inverted top 10 race on Sunday.
