James Courtney has crossed the line in seventh, and Scott Pye 13th in race 3 of the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, the first race of the Australian Grand Prix weekend.

Courtney was the second Holden home, while Scott moved up a spot from where he started over the 25-laps.

As the sun set on Albert Park, we headed out for the first race of the weekend, with one compulsory stop in the hour long race.

Starting from ninth, Courtney bolted off the line to pick up two spots by turn 1, which set up the rest of his evening.

On lap 10, Courtney was one of the earliest cars in the field to stop. Importantly, after a fantastic job in pit lane by the crew, JC held position over Whincup who was breathing down his neck.

Scott pushed on a little longer, stopping on lap 13, at half race distance.

Managing tyre life was going to be a critical factor in the final stages. JC did extremely well to keep Whincup behind, while Scott was able to pass Percat and Kelly in the closing stages to move up the order.

Tomorrow, we go again, this time for two races, a 13-lap sprint up first, before another 25-lap race in the evening.

James Courtney

“It was good to move up today and grab some good points.

“The guys did a fantastic job with the stop, both the strategy and the boys in the lane were great.

“It was a tough final stint managing the car and keeping Jamie behind me, but now we look forward to tomorrow, hopefully make the car better overnight, and move forward again.”

Scott Pye

“It was never going to be an easy afternoon, but we kept our nose clean and were able to pick a few off at the end.

“The car balance just hasn’t been there so far this weekend, we are needing more drive, which at a track like this really hurts you lap time wise.

“Tomorrow is a new day, we’ve got two races, so hopefully we can move forward again and maximise what we’ve got.”