A strong showing from both Mobil 1 MEGA Racing cars in race 5 has rounded out Saturday at the Grand Prix, with Scott Pye finishing sixth, and James Courtney eighth.

Remarkably, Pye gained 12-spots during the 25-laps to catapult himself up the order, while JC gained two, hampered by a late safety car which cost him a spot in the closing laps, but continued his run of consecutive top-10 finishes across the weekend.

Scott was one of the first cars to stop, coming into pit lane on lap nine in a strategy that gained him four places.

He undercut the cars in front, and was able to manage the tyre life well, ensuring he held off any challenge from behind in the last few laps of the race.

JC stopped two-laps later, which put him in seventh on the road.

A safety car with four-laps to go meant the cars behind which had stopped much later held the advantage, but both boys fought tooth and nail to bring the cars home where they did.

Earlier in the day, JC finished ninth and Scott 13th in race 4, a 13-lap sprint.

In what is always a difficult format to move forward, especially without a pitstop, both boys did a great job to gain places.

There has been clear progression across the weekend, seen in the race five results. We will keep chipping away at the cars overnight to ensure that continues with the final race of the weekend tomorrow.

The 13-lap conclusion to the weekend gets underway at 1:35pm.

Scott Pye

“We’ve made continual gains with the car over the weekend, so it was nice to move up towards the front of the field tonight.

“Huge credit to the crew for the call to pit when we did and get me back out there, they did a great job.

“The car looked after the tyre really well, the balance was good at the end, which meant I could hold off Davison who was on newer tyres.

“We will keep working at it overnight and give it another crack for the final race of the weekend tomorrow.”

James Courtney

“The car has been getting better as the weekend has gone on, so thanks to the guys for their continual hard work.

“We lost a couple after the stops, and the safety car didn’t help our cause, but it was nice to bank another top-10 for the weekend, and another good bunch of points.

“We’ve got one more crack at it tomorrow, we’ll be pushing.”