Race 1

Despite no points being on offer, it was an elbows-up affair at Albert Park for the first of four races this weekend.

James was out of P15, and Scott was out of P18 for the rolling start, which is the only time all year the drivers experience this.

Both the boys got off the line superbly, but unfortunately for Scott, who was on the outside at turn 1, he was fired off into the gravel.

That put him back to 24th, with a lot of hard work ahead of him.

After showing great race pace, especially late in the stint, he crossed the line in 14th.

As for James, his climb forward was momentarily halted after locking a left front heading into turn one.

That flat spotted the tyre, slowing him down, but he still managed to greet the chequered flag in 10th position, an increase of five spots.

Race 2

As the sun began to set in Melbourne, the racing heated up.

After JC had his qualifying lap disallowed for exceeding track limits and Scotty had a gear lever issue, it meant they were going to be on the charge from down the back.

They both had their eyes firmly forward in what turned out to be a shortened race thanks to a safety car and time constraints.

Scott’s race pace was one again good, as he continued his race 1 form moving forward each lap.

By the end of the 11 laps, he was up to P12.

James kept his nose clean all race, opting to stay out of other people’s chaos where possible.

He still had the eyes forward though, picking up 10 spots to finish in P14.

The highlight of the race came when Scott drove down the inside of Todd Kelly and David Reynolds into turn one on the second lap, making the three-wide manoeuvre stick.

It was a gutsy move, but one that was always in control.

Half way through the races, both cars are still straight, ready to attack the weekend.

Tomorrow’s race gets underway at 3:20pm.

From the cockpit

Scott Pye

“All in all car speed was pretty good today.

“The first race we got fired off at turn one which meant we had a lot of cars to pass.

“Race 2 was a little bit smoother, we got a decent start on the first one, moved up from P19 to P12 and then was stuck behind a few cars in dirty air.”

James Courtney

“I ballsed the tyre up in the first one when I locked it up which meant it kept grabbing all race.

“I managed to keep it together and get it to the line in P10 which all things considered wasn’t a bad result.

“The second one, coming from last I stayed out of the carnage first few corners. On the restart I dropped back to last because it was a shambles. Guys were going, some weren’t, so I just stayed out of trouble again and then picked off a few late.

“The car had good pace, we just started at the wrong end of the grid so we will get that sorted for tomorrow.”