As the sun set on over the rubber-glistened tarmac of Eastern Creek’s high-speed collection of twists and turns, few could be forgiven for failing to notice the DHR car on track for much of the weekend.

Coming off a tough race meeting at the famed Bathurst circuit, DHR duo John Prefontaine and Ash Miller laboured relentlessly to ensure a repeat of the troubles that plagued the #94 would not be repeated.

Tireless hours of work culminated in a test session 2 weeks prior to the Eastern Creek round – the plucky Elise threaded 50 laps of Warwick’s Morgan Park without so much as a stutter. Problems rectified, the car was prepared and tripped towards the latest southern round of the Championship.

“Hopes were high, and we were positive,” Miller said.

“Having had the car run perfectly for so long we just wanted to get on track and get on with it.”

Arriving at Sydney’s premier circuit amid a flood of cars competing in the first round of the Australian GT series, prestige cars littered the pitlane, and the little Lotus demanded attention in a grid of Lamborghinis, Exiges and a Ford GT or two. However, being on the grid would prove to be a bigger challenge than could have been anticipated.

“The car was difficult right from the start,” Prefontaine said.

“Right from the first session, the car was giving dramas, and unfortunely, that would paint the picture of the weekend.”

Both Miller and Prefontaine struggled with a tight cross-gate cable during the opening sessions of the weekend, before electrical dramas saw DHR struggle through qualifying with just 2 cylinders running. More diagnostic work on the car would prove futile, as the drivers races blasted by on the weekend’s calendar without the #94 crossing the line.

Frustrations continued into Sunday’s One Hour race – sleepless and left scratching their heads, DHR’s complete reconstruction of the car’s ECU overnight proved to be little more successful.

“The car ran on all cylinders, but would cut out intermittantly, without warning, and coast to a halt before sporadically firing again. It wasn’t fun, and you simply can’t continue like that.”

The One Hour race brought one glimmer of hope, however – starting from 36th on the grid, Miller passed no less than 15 cars - on the opening lap - on his way up the order, jumping into the class lead just half way around the first lap.

The sheer pace would only last for one tour of the Eastern Creek circuit – exiting the final corner the Lotus gave up the ghost, and coasted to an untimely halt.

“It was disappointing, but we’ve diagnosed the problems and we’ll come out firing for Morgan Park,” Prefontaine said.

The Spader-backed #94 will be in track again in a few months; the 3rd round of the 2011 CUE One Hour Endurace Series takes the travelling circus to QLD, and to Morgan Park’s technical mix of quick corners and twisty turns.

“Hopefully with a hometown advantage we’ll be looking better - the car has awesome pace, now we just need to keep it up for all the laps!”

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Pictures and more updates to come.