Scott Pye has finished 13th and James Courtney 17th in Race 23 of the 2019 Championship at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand.

After Friday’s two practice sessions, Saturday started with Practice 3, which rolled into a 20-minute qualifying session.

Both cars were chasing low-speed turn at the hairpin, resulting in Scott qualifying 11th and JC 19th.

One of the biggest parts of the day was a precautionary engine change on Car No. 2 between qualifying and the race, as the team erred on the side of caution.

The boys had 55-minutes to get the existing engine out, the new engine in, and get everything warm before the race, timing it to perfection as Scott Pye left the garage as pit exit opened.

To get it done in that short amount of time was a credit to everyone involved, it’s not quick and easy task.

The threat of rain was always there for the race, as everyone looked skyward, but the heavens never opened up in the 200km, 70-lap race.

Both cars moved forward early, before an early race safety car on lap 13 mixed the order up.

JC had already taken his first stop, but Scott dived into the lane when the yellow flags came out.

The latter part of the race was relatively uneventful for both our boys, who had their own fights going on around them, but didn’t quite have the pace to push into the top 10.

Sunday begins with a 20-minute qualifying session, followed by a Top 10 Shootout, and 200km race.