DJR Team Penske Shell Helix Ford Falcon FG X driver Pye will have six-time champion Jamie Whincup alongside him for the opening race of the 2016 V8 Supercars Series at the Clipsal 500 today. They will be on the front row for the first-ever soft tyre race on the Adelaide Parklands track, with Scott McLaughlin and defending champion Mark Winterbottom on row two.
But the 26-year is in no way intimidated by the heavy hitting rivals around him, saying he knows what he has to do take victory.
“I know I have the car speed I just need to get off the line. Even if we drop back, hopefully we have enough pace to pass and get back into the lead,” he said.
Pye has also put himself in position to break through for team owner Roger Penske first V8 Supercars win only 12 months after he took over majority ownership of the team from Dick Johnson.
Pye’s team mate Fabian Coulthard qualified 13th while fellow Kiwis Shane van Gisbergen, Chris Pither and Andre Heimgartner will start from sixth, 22nd and 24th respectively.
In the second qualifying session Chaz Mostert made a stunning return to V8 Supercars at the Clipsal 500, claiming ARMOR ALL Pole Position for tomorrow’s second race.
Five months on from his horrific Bathurst crash that left him with a broken leg, wrist and knee issues, the 23-year old has silenced the doubters, showing he has not lost any speed.
After the chequered flag flew in the second qualifying session of the day, Mostert smashed his 1min20.3724 lap to knock all-time champ Jamie Whincup from top of the times by 0.0828 on the hard Dunlop tyre. Scott McLaughlin will start fthird with Shane vanGisbergen fifth, Fabian Coulthard 17th, Chris Pither 23rd and Andre Heimgartner 24th.
“We were happy with the practice sessions today,” commented van Gisbergen. “It gave me a good chance to get comfortable in the car and in tune with the set-up. We just didn’t get the most out of the car in qualifying which showed in our results. Our sectors were good today so we’ll be working on the lap times for tomorrow.”
Drivers have a 20-minute practice session in the morning before contesting the two races.
Comments