'Sore shoulders from carrying us': Brown praises 'fantastic' Pye

"Scotty's probably got sore shoulders from carrying us a little bit today.”

That was Will Brown’s simple, yet clear message that Scott Pye was the difference for the #1 Red Bull Ampol Camaro sparing Triple Eight’s blushes at The Bend.

On a day the pole-sitting Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup car floundered to 19th after a refuelling issue, Brown/Pye soared from 16th to fourth to lead the Camaro stakes.

While Brown took the chequered flag, it was Pye who had the tough assignment of surviving the early laps among his fellow co-drivers.

However, Pye used his 342 races of experience to glide to 12th on the opening lap, before passing Lee Holdsworth and battling with Jayden Ojeda to sit 10th approaching the tops.

Pye led by the time he was brought in on lap 28, and washed out to 10th. After another strong stint, Pye handed over to Brown on lap 48, with the #1 jumping the Nick Percat/Tim Slade car through the second stops.

"To be honest, Scotty's probably got sore shoulders from carrying us a little bit today, he did a fantastic job there from the start through the first part of the race,” Brown said.

"Shows he's still got it and he gave it good to some of those guys back there while he came up through the field. I think he got us up to seventh and then I was able to pick a couple off from there once I got behind the wheel.

"It's a massively hard place to pass at so for Scotty to pass so many, he did a fantastic job. For us to recover to fourth shows that we had a really good car underneath us today, and not only that all weekend when we really leaned in to it, that's the positive we need to take away, one of them.

"We just need to qualify a bit better and I think we can be right up there. In the race we've put ourselves in a good spot, good recovery from where we were to where we ended up and put us in a good spot to have a real lunge at the Enduro Cup.

"In the past the car has been really strong at Bathurst, this is not the first year Scotty and I have done it together so we're going in as ready as anyone to push for a win there.”

Pye, who won the 2024 Sandown 500 with Brown, was delighted to charge through the field, just a day after being taken out by Whincup in practice during a Safety Car test.

"Overall really happy with the day,” the 35-year-old said.

"I moved the car up I think 11 spots before Will got in which was kind of our ambitious target. I wasn't sure that'd be achievable, but very proud of holding the car together and giving it to Will not only in a good spot on track but a good condition.

"Once he took over he was super fast especially at the end of the day there. So we know we've got a really fast race car. Obviously, we're just a little bit behind the eight ball on qualifying and hopefully we can fix that for Bathurst.

"But the great thing was the race pace, that's what took us from 16th to fourth and that's what has put us in a good spot for the Enduro Cup. We're still in in the hunt. If we can go ahead and win Bathurst...

"But overall today was a really good recovery, a really good race and I was stoked. I felt really good in the car. I feel fresh. My start was good. Unreal to be back in the main in a race start situation, the adrenaline and the nerves. It was just a very cool feeling and one that I've definitely missed."