DJR Secures Pye as Part of 2014 Young Gun Strategy

Dick Johnson Racing last night confirmed up-and-coming star racer Scott Pye will drive for the team for the next two years. 

A team statement announced DJR has been “quick off the mark cementing a full suite of plans for 2014 well before the end of the current season”.

“In stark contrast to last year, the team has ensured a raft of key decisions have been finalised allowing a 100 per cent focus on the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship,” the statement read.

After announcing the team has secured a second REC, DJR reveals Scott Pye will take over from FPR-bound Chaz Mostert.

Mostert has brought success to the team this year, having scored a race win and podium result – something DJR will look to continue with Pye, hoping to build the team around “some of the finest young talent in Australia”.

It has been a character bulidng season for the rookie at Lucas Dumbrell Racing but with a two-year contract with DJR now signed, Pye is looking forward to driving for the iconic Queensland based team.

“This is an unbelievable opportunity,” Pye said.  

“To drive for Dick Johnson Racing is really quite amazing. I have watched how Chaz and Tim (Blanchard) have brought the team on and for Dick to be supporting younger guys once again in his cars is really a great thing for V8 Supercars.

“I know this team has a very powerful and loyal fan base so I am really looking forward to continuing the march up the grid for DJR and hopefully rewarding them.”

For Dick Johnson it is another step to achieve his goal of long-term success for the team.

“The young guys are the future for DJR and the sport,” he said. “Scott is a good get for us. He is young, but already I can see why Roland (Dane, Triple Eight team boss) has backed him. He has a very good attitude and I was impressed immediately by the questions he asked about the team and the differences in cars. He is the real deal.”

This is Pye's first season in main game V8 Supercars, fresh out of the Dunlop Series where he was runner-up in 2012 to breakout talent Scott McLaughlin and followed home by Mostert. He awarded the Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner for the best first year driver in the Dunlop Series.

Pye claimed the 2010 British Formula Ford Championship with 14 race wins and stepped up to the cut-throat British Formula 3 Championship a year later. He finished 10th overall in the points with a race win at Rockingham the major highlight, joining the likes of Mark Webber and Will Davison as Australian drivers to score a race win in the category.

In 2012 Pye clinched a breakthrough round win in the final event at Sydney Olympic Park – the V8 Supercars kick off at the Sydney NRMA Motoring & Services 500 today with four practice sessions.