Scott Pye and Warren Luff turned a disappointing Saturday into a strong Sunday after finishing the Sandown 500 in sixth position, 12-spots higher than where they started.

The news wasn’t as good for James Courtney and Jack Perkins, who battled hard all day, but didn’t get the rub of the green, moving forward 10 spots to finish 16th.

The first endurance race of the season was 161 laps and 500kms long in the Melbourne sunshine, a stark contrast to yesterday’s weather.

Car 25 took rolled the dice on strategy at the start of the race, as James Courtney, who was starting last after yesterday’s accident, was the only main-game driver to take the green flag.

Up against co-drivers, including Warren Luff, he moved forward 10 spots in 10 laps.

A safety car on lap 24 was bitter-sweet. It worked well for car 2, which gained spots on the road after getting away cleanly in the opening part of the race but didn’t work as well for car 25. At that time, Jack Perkins jumped behind the wheel to complete his laps.

After 56 laps, Luffy handed the keys back to Scott Pye, who had just over 100 laps ahead of him, while JC jumped back in 24 laps later.

Car 2’s pace was one of the best on track in the second last stint, as Pye moved past five cars and into the top six. JC however battled with a few car issues which didn’t help his cause, pushing him down the order.

After the last round of stops, Scott was punching out clean and consistent lap times, while JC was quicker than those around him, just too far behind to do anything about it.

Crossing the line in sixth has pushed Scott Pye into ninth in the championship, while JC sits in 14th.

While sometimes luck wasn’t on our side, there were more positives to take including genuine qualifying speed and continued car development across the weekend.

Next up, the big one, the Bathurst 1000.

Scott Pye

“I really think we got the most out of it today, it was a really good fight back, and I’m really happy to grab sixth.

“The boys made a great call on the strategy, the car was strong and looked after the tyres really well, especially in the second last stint.

“Luffy did a great job today, it makes my job a lot easier when he hands the car over further up the road than where we started.

“Bring on The Mountain.”

Warren Luff

“If you had of offered us sixth at the start of today we would have definitely taken it.

“We really maximised what we had today, from car pace to strategy, so it was definitely pleasing.

“Scott did a great job at the end to move forward, and after the weekend as a whole, I can’t wait to get to Bathurst.”

James Courtney

“We rolled the dice today, and the safety car didn’t go to plan.

“A few issues along the way definitely didn’t help our chances today, but the car balance just wasn’t quite right early.

“Still a lot of positives to take from this weekend, the speed was there until a rough afternoon yesterday. Time to take on the big one!”

Jack Perkins

“It’s not the way we wanted to finish the weekend which started on a high.

“A few little issues didn’t go our way today, but we will be back.

“Bathurst is something special, and we are in with a shot. Bring it on.”