Typically inconsistent Melbourne weather worked against the WPS Racing team in Sunday's Sandown 500 as lead drivers David Besnard and Cr🌃aig Baird struggled to 19th position while Team Australia duo Marcus Marshall and Alex Tagliani crossed the line in 22nd.

An enforced mechanical black flag for Besnard early in th✃e race initially worked in the team's favour as he r🔯ose to the top of the running order during a round of pit stops on lap 65.

Baird then took control of the race, rejoining the field in seventh p𒈔lace before patchy rain and engine overheating iss🅘ues played havoc with their run during the second half of the 161-lap race.

"The overheating problem was always going to be something which we had to try and keep under control during the race," said Baird. "There were also some difficult calls to make with the ty💦res because of the weather and in hindsight we may have been able to hold off on some of those pits.

"But that 🐭pretty much summed up our🉐 day; we just couldn't take a trick. At least we came home with a clean car and will hope for better luck at Bathurst."

ౠSimilarly Besnard was extremely disappointed with the outcome from a race weekend that promised so much.

"The mechanical black flag called on lap 14 allo𒅌wed us to refuel and that set us up well when the rest of the field came in for their first scheduled pit," said Besnard. "But when the temperature problem developed it became a major issue.

"Throughout the afternoon it was hard to determine whether to stick with slick tyres o🦩r wets due to the rain and we did more stop💃s than we planned for. Things just didn't click for us."

A late change in strategy saw Tagliani start proceedings for Team Austra𓆏lia during his♏ V8 Supercar debut and he showed great composure to hang tough before being shunted off the track on lap 32.

"I started from 25th on the grid and had got to 19th before I was shot straight off the track from behind," said Tagliani. "That was disappointing because I was really starting to feel comfortable with the set up and we were on the pace. Looking at the time sheets our quickest lap during the rac꧅e was in the top half of the field.

"Maybe if we could have rolled along with the rain and chanced things on tyres we could have b🧸een much higher.

"For my first exper🦄ience with Marcus it was great. I'm excited about Bathurst in a few weeks, we had a competitive car all weekend and were matching it with the primar🍌y WPS Racing car."

Marshall showed great perseverance in his driving, resisting the temptation to pit for slick tyres on a drying track during the co🌺ncluding stages of the 161 lap feature൲.

"It was a very strange endurance race with limited safety car periods and having to hang tough while others were swapping and changing tyre set up," said Marshall. "We ha�༒�d to play things patiently and just dug deep and took our chances when they came along.

"Alex and I will be better for the run and our combination ꦉwill only get better when we have the chance to chat about today's raceꦫ."