James Courtney was pipped for a podium with two laps to go in race 12 in Perth, crossing the line in fourth, while Scott Pye recovered from being turned around on lap 1, to finish 15th.

With 3kms left of the 200km race, JC was relegated back a spot by Craig Lowndes, who was on three lap fresher tyres, the critical factor in the end.

Pye’s afternoon was immediately placed on the backfoot, having to fight back from dead last on the track.

Both cars advanced through stage one of qualifying this morning, a star-studded group where only six progressed.

To highlight the calibre, six of yesterday’s top 10 in qualifying missed the opening cut.

JC advanced through to the final stage with the third quickest time, but Scott just missed out, meaning he started today’s race from 15th.

Due to using two sets of green tyres in the opening stage to ensure progression, JC didn’t have a new set available like the rest of the top 10, recording the ninth fastest time, his starting position.

It was lap 1 when it all went wrong for Pye, turned around by Stanaway over the top of the hill, putting him back to last.

A safety car on lap five meant the double stack in pit lane, and a full tank of fuel for both cars.

There was a lot of different strategies being played out amongst the field, which made it hard to follow who was where, but both boys were driving to a target number, preserving the life of the tyre.

As degradation seemed higher than yesterday, the team made the call to stop Pye four times during the race, to undercut some of the traffic in front of him as he came through the field.

After the final round of stops, JC popped out in P3, and Scott in P12, with 25 laps to get home.

The closing stages saw cars on fresher tyres move through the field, relegating Scott back to 15th.

JC held off Lowndes as long as he could, but fresh tyres eventually won. So close to a podium, but a good result none the less.

Scott battled on today after a tough start, but didn’t have the car speed he had yesterday.

Pye remains sixth in the Drivers Championship, with Courtney right behind him in seventh.

Now we head back home for a week, before going up the highway to Winton.

James Courtney

“It was disappointing not to be able to hang on for a podium, but overall, it was a good result.

“The guys made a great call on strategy which really helped us.

“Knowing how good the car was in the race yesterday, I was always confident we were going to be thereabouts again.

“Qualifying was better today, the car was much better on green tyres which was why we were able to get into the final stage. Bring on Winton.

Scott Pye

“Obviously the race didn’t really start how we had planned, doing a 360 over the hill wasn’t in the script, so that put us on the backfoot from the start.

“We were able to pick up a few but it was a long way back. We balance just wasn’t quite as good as yesterday.

“I’m looking forward to Winton now. Hopefully we can move up from our sixth in the championship.”