Scott Pye will race Car #200 at this weekend’s WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint as he brings up a milestone number of race starts in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.
The 29-year-old is set to bring up 200 race starts in Saturday’s ninth race of the season, meaning a switch from the usual #2 which his Mobil 1 Mega Racing ZB Commodore carries.
“I can’t believe it’ll be race start 200 on the weekend, it’s crazy to think about, and something that will be special to reflect back on,” said Pye, who picked up finished of 12th and eighth last weekend at Symmons Plains.
“It doesn’t change the job at hand though, the race pace was good in Tassie but we need to improve the qualifying package to be able to maximise it.
“Ensuring the car balance is good through the long corners like it was at the Grand Prix is critical here, it’s a definite focus of ours heading in.
“It’s nice to not have to wait long to get out there and get back into it.”
Pye made his debut in the enduros of 2012 with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport and has one Supercars Championship race win to his name having triumphed in challenging conditions at Albert Park last year.
The change from #2 to #200 is not a first for Walkinshaw Andretti United at Phillip Island, with the same happening for Mark Skaife’s Holden Racing Team VE Commodore in 2007.
On that occasion, however, Skaife was celebrating the double century in terms of round starts, while then-Tickford Racing driver Mark Winterbottom drove Car #200 at Phillip Island last year for the same reason.
Meanwhile, the four Kelly Racing Nissan Altimas have also appeared with minor livery changes at Phillip Island with long-time partner Kangan Institute across the windscreens of all of its cars.
Also, the bonnet of Andre Heimgartner’s #7 Plus Fitness entry has a promotion for the ‘Save our Sons’ charity which raises funds and awareness for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
The bonnet features a tribute to Alex Scollard who recently passed away after his battle with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Practice 1 starts tomorrow at 1135 local time/AEST.
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