Scott Pye and Warren Luff have finished fifth, while James Courtney and Jack Perkins finished 12th in Race 26, a 300km race around the streets of Surfers Paradise.

For Car No. 2, both Scott and Luffy were on the move forward all race, showing great pace and poise throughout the 102 laps.

Car No. 22 was on the receiving end of two penalties throughout the race, which dropped them down the order.

After making the Top 10 Shootout, but receiving a kerb strike at turn 1, JC qualified in 10th, while Scott was 11th, missing the shootout by a mere 0.04 seconds.

Both co-drivers started the race, like was the case with most of the field.

They got away cleanly, but early on in the race, after contact with D’Alberto as he went down the inside of him at the back hairpin, Perkins was given a 15-second penalty.

The team elected to stop Jack immediately, serving the penalty, and getting him out in fresh air to pump some lap times out on fresh tyres.

Meanwhile, Luffy had moved up to seventh, racing hard with great speed.

On lap-34, once the minimum co-driver laps were complete, Scott jumped in the No. 2, while Jack pressed on against the main-game drivers, doing a great job to keep them behind.

Scott moved from seventh into fifth, with fantastic pace and some ripping moves under Anton De Pasquale and Andre Heimgartner on consecutive laps.

With 13-to go, a safety car was called for debris on track. The team brought JC in, who was 10th, for fresh tyres, which dropped him to 12th, but, with the pace he had at the end it was the definitely the right call.

After clawing his way into eighth, he and Heimgartner made contact with three laps to go, resulting in Car No. 7 hitting the wall after JC had an overlap on him down the right-hand side.

The stewards issued JC a drive through penalty with two laps to go, which relegated him to 12th at the finish.

Meanwhile, Scott was able to drive away from those behind, but couldn’t find a way past Waters in fourth.

The car speed today was good, it gives us something to work with overnight, before we come out tomorrow for qualifying, a Top 10 Shootout, and another 300km endurance race.

Scott Pye

“It was a good day today, and the car was speedy that’s for sure. Thanks to everyone in the team for their work.

“Luffy did a great job as always to move up early and hand it over in a strong position.

“We got held up at the end there by lapped traffic, so couldn’t get close enough to the front-four, but overall, we will definitely take the fifth.

“Bring on tomorrow.”

Warren Luff

“Really happy with fifth today, the team did a great job, and the car was great throughout the entire race.

“Scotty did a fantastic job at the end there, pulling off some great moves as well.

“We head into tonight with a good base to work with, so we will put our heads together and try and climb up even higher tomorrow.”

James Courtney

“The penalty was really frustrating today, the rules state that if there's an overlap you don't have to back off, so he kept coming over and he started to spin, and then he was in the wall and I couldn't then get out of it, so I just kept into it.

“The rule state if there's an overlap you've got to give the guy room, and obviously there was no room. He wouldn’t have gone right if there was no overlap. The reason he went right was because there was an overlap.

“Anyway... it's frustrating because we could have got a few more spots, but it is what it is. The guys made a great call for tyres at the end there.

“The car was speedy, Jack fought back really well, we’ve got a good base to work with, so we will be aiming for a surfboard tomorrow.”

Jack Perkins

“I think I was stiff to get the 15-second penalty. Every competitor I have spoken with thinks it was maybe worth a five-second penalty, but not the 15.

“While that was frustrating, the car speed was really good today. While we didn’t finish up as high as we wanted to, there’s a good car to work with overnight.

“Looking forward to tomorrow and turning it around.”