SCOTT Pye’s maiden season for Mobil 1 HSV Racing has certainly had its struggles, yet when he arrives at Mount Panorama this week he will have confidence on his side.
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After a stint with DJR Team Penske, Pye switched camps for 2017 to steer one of two HSV Racing Commodore VFs.
Both he and team-mate James Courtney have found good results hard to come by, a fifth placing at the Sydney SuperSprint the best Pye has managed.
Yet the former Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner knows all about perseverance and knows if he wants the good results to come, he must continue to work hard.
“I guess I’ve been in the situation a few times now, I had it when I first went to DJR, it was a tough time for that crew. But we sort of pulled together and by the end of that three-year period there we started to get some good results,” Pye, who sits 18th in the championship, said.
“I feel like I’m having to do that again, so it’s not I guess, unknown to me. It’s unfortunate that you feel like you want to be winning races, but just the sport we are in is so competitive it’s very difficult to be in the best car.
“But I feel like you just need to work really hard with the team and not be frustrated with it, that’s like you are not always going to be in the best situation.
“I feel like I have got one of the best teams in pit lane behind me. I think there’s no reason why, that in the future, we can beat winning races and championships.
“So we need to just get the car sorted as quickly as possible and the way to do that is just to work together.”
Pye is hoping the Bathurst 1000 is a race where he can turn things around for himself and the team.
Last year he placed fifth in the 161-lap epic, finishing less than one second off a podium spot.
He also has a sixth placing in the Great Race to his credit, and the last two years has taken part in the top 10 shootout.
On top of that Pye has Warren Luff, a two-time winner of the Enduro Cup, as his co-driver and his team is a seven-time victor in the Great Race.
“I think it’s a really drivers’ confidence track and I have done well there in the past. It gives me confidence I can pull a good lap out,” he said.
“With the team, strategy wise, they’ve always done a really good job. Even this year they’ve done well, and it can get you up there in longer races.
“That’s where I think endurance races really suit the team, I feel like we’ve got smart people and that helps. But at the end of the day now, they are not so much an endurance race, they are more like a longer sprint race, you have to have fast car now.”
