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Pye eyes the podium

06 Oct 2014
Fifth-place Sandown finish gives up-and-comers Pye and Walsh hope of top three Bathurst berth.
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While many expected Championship contender and defending Bathurst winner Mark Winterbottom to be the first Ford home at Sandown, one of the young guns surprised us - and it wasn't Winterbottom's teammate, either.

Wilson Security DJR's Scott Pye continues edging closer to the podium, with a career-best fourth at Queensland Raceway recently and fifth - behind the likes of Jamie Whincup, James Courtney, Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes - at the first of the Pirtek Enduro Cup long distance races.

With Bathurst the site of his previous best finish, sixth last year, Pye is hoping to score his first Championship podium at the race everyone is watching - though he was cautious not to talk up his chances too much when speaking with v8supercars.com.au.

"We're hoping that after Sandown we can get on the podium, but it's such a long day," Pye said.

"You get excited about it but at the same time it's in the back of your mind that it is the toughest day of the year. You've just got to be there at the end."

And hopefully at the beginning - qualifying is the key area Pye has identified in need of improvement for the Great Race.

"Qualifying again is a bit of a weakness and we're focusing on that," he said.

"Hopefully we can start a bit further up at Bathurst and certainly would like to be on the podium there. (Sandown) was a great result for the team and well deserved by all of them."

Pye described the fifth placing as a massive credit to the team, given the extensive damage done to his Falcon at the previous round.

"The car was obviously written off after Eastern Creek when we got taken out, so for them they've had to rebuild it from nothing ... it feels like we have got some momentum going. Fortunately Eastern Creek didn't hurt us with that we're able to bounce back from that and for sure the team is doing a fantastic job.

"I feel like we're quite a small tem in pit lane and it's such a family oriented team with Dick Johnson, his family and the whole team. I keep saying they deserve it and hopefully Ash and I can do a good job again with our engineers and mechanics. We'll just keep working hard trying to improve.

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"There's a long way to go in the year and we'll see where we end up."

That small team, however, is set to become bigger with Penske Racing buying into it for next season.

Marcos Ambrose is set to jump behind the wheel of one of the Falcons, with his teammate to be announced.

Penske Racing President Tim Cindric will attend the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 - but Pye says that does not add any pressure to perform at the year's biggest race.

"I think I just keep on doing the job I'm doing," he said. "I'm not thinking too much about next year at the moment because we've got such a long way to go this year and Bathurst is at the front of my mind.

"Every race we go to I want to do well, same as every other driver on the grid, so I want to do the best job I can, and we've got a great team behind me ... we're really starting to hit our stride."

He felt co-driver Walsh was an asset - one of the quicker co-drivers at Sandown, and not letting a big accident at the circuit last year play into his mindset.

"Top five - I never would've thought that at the start of the day. So pretty stoked!" Walsh said of the 500 result.

He will jump in his Dunlop Series Falcon for the category's first 250km mini-marathon around Mount Panorama on Saturday - challenging for the title against Paul Dumbrell, the winning Sandown co-driver, which makes an interesting dynamic. Just four points separate the two.

"It's going to be a pretty important meeting - I'll just do my best and that's all we can do," Walsh toldv8supercars.com.au.

Click here for more from the co-drivers performing 'double duties' at the mountain, and here to book your tickets to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

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