The first ever Supercars race around the streets of Newcastle is a wrap, and it was a day of mixed emotions for Mobil 1 HSV Racing.

Scott Pye drove superbly, climbing from 17th to seventh at the end of the 250kms, while James Courtney’s luck in 2017 didn’t improve, collected by a lap car while running eighth, bending his steering.

The first lap was hectic, with the safety car making an appearance straight away.

Both boys boxed, which meant they would have two more stops to get home.

At a track where passing was difficult, both boys found themselves in freight trains for the first part of the race.

On the 34-lap mark, JC’s afternoon was all but finished. As he approached Aaron Russell, who was a lap down, Russell found the wall, and then turned back into JC.

It took the boys three laps to fix the bent steering arm, which meant he circulated until the finish.

The boys used the undercut brilliantly at the final round of stops for Scott, pushing him to P9.

With 10 to go, things went ballistic.

In the space of three corners, Scott went for sixth, to fourth, was pushed back to ninth, and then went straight back to eighth. It was wild.

Eventually, he went on to cross the line seventh. A good result for him after a great drive.

The disappointing aspect was that we were on for a great team result if it wasn’t for the contact to car 22.

Tomorrow, we come back and do it all again, with another 250km race, the last of the year.

SCOTT PYE

“All things considered it was a good result today.

“This track is really hard to pass on, so to pick up 10 spots was pleasing.

“It was disappointing to be pushed wide by Lee, I felt that it wasn’t needed, and we had enough room.

“We will go again tomorrow, and try and send the year off on the right note.”

JAMES COURTNEY

“Today was looking positive until the contact.

“I had no where to go, it was just one of those things I couldn’t avoid, which was the worst part of it.

“The positive was that we qualified in the 10 and the race pace was good, so we have got something to work with tomorrow, we just need to find a little bit more.”