After really promising signs throughout, ultimately, it was a tough day at the Island for Mobil 1 HSV Racing.

Qualifying didn’t go quiet to script, with James Courtney ending up in 13th, and Scott in 18th, but with 250km ahead of us, the most important thing was good car speed.

The bad luck continued on the opening lap of the race when Scott Pye was forced to take an excursion off the track to avoid an accident, putting him at the back of the pack.

James climbed to seventh thanks to some great work in the pits by the crew, while Scott was in 22nd after he also came in.

After another safety car with 30 laps to go meant that it was going to turn into a strategy race.

JC jumped up into the top 3, while Scott sacrificed track position to get the minimum fuel drop in.

After 15 laps of running comfortably in third, staying in touch with the leaders, JC had to jump back in pit lane for a splash of fuel, dropping him back down to P20, where he finished the race.

The safety car fell at the wrong time for car #22, causing a lot of pain to what was a quick car.

As for Scott, he continued to recover from lap one, clawing his way back to P12. Not as high as he wanted, but a good recovery none the less.

While the pitstop derailed a possible podium finish for JC, the positive to take was the car speed in the race.

It’s not the result nor the weekend we were hoping for. We will turn all our focus on Perth in two weeks, making sure we are back where we belong.

From the cockpit

Scott Pye

“It was an interesting race, that’s for sure.

“Lap one obviously really hurt us. I had to go through the gravel to avoid an accident so that really changed our plans.

“To fight back the way we did was really pleasing. It wasn’t as high up as we would have liked, but considering we went back to last, the get back there was good.

“We did the most laps out of anyone on the last stint, so saving the tyre, especially after yesterday was really important. The car did that well, allowing us to run to the flag.

“We will go back, debrief on what happened over the weekend, and then switch out focus to Perth.”

James Courtney

“Today was tough, no two ways about that.

“The car speed was good, we were comfortably running with the leading guys and it was looking after the tyre well.

“Unfortunately, the safety cars didn’t play out like we hoped today, which ruined our shot at a podium.

“It’s disappointing, but we have to move on and focus on Perth.”