Pye happy with progress

DJR Team Penske's new lead driver Scott Pye had the chance to sample his FG X Falcon in wet and dry weather today in Tasmania, a tricky reintroduction to V8 Supercars.

The 25-year old returned to the cockpit after four months, and losing a full-time drive at the team when it elected to downsize to one vehicle for 2015.

However, Pye received the call up last week to replace Marcos Ambrose, and was positive about today's first run.

Pye sees potential in the car and was pleased with what he and engineer Mark Fenning worked through today. Practice also offered the chance to dust off the cobwebs at the tricky track.

"It was a tough but good initiation with it being so wet this morning," Pye said.

"We stayed with what was effectively a dry set up as the boys were predicating it would fine up. I think we were pretty competitive, up and around the Top 10 for a lot of the first session. I made a couple of mistakes toward the end, probably a bit rusty!"

He felt the car was responsive and improved from last year's DJR FG Falcon.

His first outing saw him come home 18th in the order -1.1 seconds adrift of the session's quickest driver Chaz Mostert - and then 20th, though the team did not elect to run a soft, quicker, Dunlop tyre as others did in the final run.

"The second session went pretty smoothly - we had a good program, and I was happy with what we tried. The changes made were definitely able to be felt in the car. It gave me good feedback and a good feel.

"The braking is a big improvement over what we had last year, so overall pretty happy with the car. I think a lot of guys went to the 'soft' tyre so maybe P20 is a little further down than were really are in terms of car speed."

While his driving has come about quickly, Pye was enthusiastic about taking the opportunity with both hands, doing his best to help further the team as a whole, and to work with Ambrose and understand his feedback.

He praised the team for managing the turnaround, and is now settled in the car and ready for tomorrow's packed schedule, including a final 15-minute practice session before back to back qualifying and two 60km races at the Symmons Plains circuit.

"Overall I felt comfortable in the car and it is a credit to the DJR Team Penske boys to turn the car around after Marcos' announcement to get the ergonomics sorted out for me," he said.