While a tough weekend for the Red Bull Ampol team continued with a horror run in morning qualifying, Pye kept his eye in for the enduros with a winning cameo in the local SuperV8 class.
Pye accepted a one-off guest drive with Richards Team Motorsport aboard an ex-NZV8 Toyota Camry, which was recently fitted with an 800bhp Toyota NASCAR engine.
The Australian was entrusted with helping to sort the machine, which is still largely in its touring car guise and was outgunned for speed by the Trans Am machinery in the all-comers class.
Pye qualified eighth on Friday before banking a fourth and a fifth in the Saturday races.
He came home a winner in the finale after leader Kerry Jones, who had won the opening two heats aboard his Chevrolet Corvette, pulled off the circuit with mechanical trouble.
“The crew worked really hard all weekend. We were like eighth quickest, genuinely, at the start of the weekend,” Pye told Speedcafe.
“We were the quickest touring car then which was the main thing. Those Trans Ams, they’re on like 14 or 15 inch tyres, you follow them around and they’re just on rails.
“But that’s a blast, it was so much fun. A massive shoutout to Richards Team Motorsport, I’m excited to see what the guys do with the car next.
“It’s been an amazing opportunity to get laps in a car that’s relatively similar, we were doing 29s then so it’s not too far away from a Supercar.
“To do three races, run through Safety Car restarts, all that kind of stuff was just great for me and the crew, it was just great to hang out with them.”
Pye was left beaming at the potential of the Camry, which was previously campaigned in NZV8s by drivers including current Triple Eight race engineer Martin Short.
“The platform overall we probably need to make it a bit stiffer because it does have so much power that when it kicks in, it transfers its weight quite aggressively,” Pye said.
“But overall the balance is something that will be tuned up. The team did a good job to get this here because this category was a last-minute addition to this event to replace TCR.
“They weren’t even planning on having it here, so there’s a lot they’re going to be doing with brake upgrades, wheels and tyres, to get it to what the other guys are running.
“To give up two or three inches per tyre is a lot but it’s a fantastic car and it’s going to be a good thing when they’re finished with it.”
Pye will again join Will Brown for this year’s Supercars endurance races, having won the Sandown 500 together last September.
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