DJR Team Penske is “bonkers” if it doesn’t sign Scott Pye to race for it in 2016.
So says his mentor and V8 Supercars pitlane heavyweight Roland Dane, who has advised and supported the South Australian throughout his career.
But while Pye figures “heavily” in the team’s 2016 driver considerations, DJR Team Penske managing director Ryan Story says there will be no decisions made until after the PIRTEK Enduro Cup, which concludes late October.
“We are a little ways off determining what course of action we will take,” Story told v8supercars.com.au. “It is quite genuinely going to take a bit of time.”
The 25-year old was called up to replace Marcos Ambrose in the DJR Team Penske Ford Falcon FG X when the 2003-04 V8 Supercars Champion stepped out after just two events.
Since then Pye has gained improving results as he and the team have come to terms with the new Falcon, scoring four top 10 finishes in his last six starts.
And the team is also saying it will make a call on whether it will expand from one to two cars in 2016 around the same time.
All these issues obviously have a bearing on Pye’s potential future with DJR Team Penske.
But Dane, who owns Triple Eight Race Engineering, the parent of Red Bull Racing Australia, has urged the team owned by legendary US motor racing billionaire Roger Penske to sign Pye and expand to two cars for 2016.
“I’d personally like to see DJR Team Penske go to two cars just for the Championship and if they don’t put their best foot forward and sign Scotty Pye soon then they are bonkers,” Dane told v8supercars.com.au.
“He has shown how good he can be when he is comfortable and everyone is working in the same direction.”
Story confirmed the team had an option on Pye’s services for 2016.
“Scott knows what he needs to do and that is to continue to successfully prosecute race weekends and part of that is to show a little more consistency. We have been working on that with him,” Story said.
“But certainly he has been doing a fantastic job.”
Pye is now in his third full-time season in V8 Supercars. After returning to Australia from Europe, Triple Eight ran him in the 2012 Dunlop Series, in which he battled with Chaz Mostert, Scott McLaughlin and Nick Percat.
In 2013 he moved into the Championship with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport but had a difficult season. In 2014 he performed well at Dick Johnson Racing but lost his full-time drive at season’s end when Penske took over and installed Ambrose as the sole driver.
Asked if he knew what DJR Team Penske’s intentions were towards Pye, Dane said:
“I honestly don’t, but I hope they make up their minds up soon and if they run two cars I hope he is part of it. Whatever they do I hope he’s part of it.”
Dane acknowledged that his relationship with Pye might be off-putting for rival teams, but they should not be concerned about it.
“I have always said if he needs me I am there to help him and if he doesn’t, if it’s an impediment in any way, then fine, no problem, I will step away.
“But if any team felt uncomfortable about the relationship between me and him then fine. But if they understood it then they probably wouldn’t be uncomfortable.
“I just try to mentor him now, try to give him some guidance now to make the right choices.”
Story said that a move by DJR Team Penske to two cars was not guaranteed.
“The reality is if it’s done it will be done for the right reasons, and there is still a bit of water to go under the bridge yet,” said Story.
Of course, if DJR Team Penske does expand to two cars it would further smooth the path for Triple Eight’s new third entry for 2016 to share a boom with Tekno Autosports, which is a T8 customer team.
“I hope they are running two cars from a championship point of view and from a shareholder in the business point of view,” said Dane. “I would love to see them do that.
“It makes sense for Tekno … who would then be orphaned to be running with us. We have a very good relationship with them and they are very good people and we want to maintain that.”
