Melbourne Race 1

19:18	AltF5K	Hello and welcome to Albert Park for race 1
19:19	AltF5K	Qualifying saw another domineering performance from Prodrive Racing Australia, with their two drivers Richie Stanaway and Dave Simpson locking out the front row
19:19	AltF5K	We're just moments away from the start now
19:19	AltF5K	And we're away!
19:20	AltF5K	Simpson immediately gets the jump on Stanaway, and both of them nearly get swamped by Pye!
19:20	AltF5K	The two Prodrive cars hold on to 1 and 2 for the moment though
19:21	AltF5K	Weiron Tan in the second Bryan Taylor car has also had a brilliant start
19:21	AltF5K	And finds himself in 9th
19:21	AltF5K	CRASHU!
19:21	AltF5K	Robertson has drilled the back of McLaughlin into turn 13!
19:21	AltF5K	And Holdsworth and Tan are both caught up in the mess!
19:22	AltF5K	And Pye's gotten past Stanaway!
19:22	AltF5K	Holdsworth and Tan are both out of the race
19:22	AltF5K	And Lee in particular looks absolutely disgusted, as he had nowhere to go
19:23	AltF5K	Simpson meanwhile is already over 2 seconds ahead as he starts lap 3 of 19
19:24	AltF5K	Although Pye's just set a new fastest lap in his pursuit of Simpson
19:24	AltF5K	Heimgartner meanwhile has passed Seamus Belcher for 9th position
19:24	AltF5K	STKR only have the #0 car here this weekend, and Belcher's given it a decent ride so far
19:25	AltF5K	The order on lap 3 is Simpson, Pye, Stanway, McLaughlin, Rogers, Premat, Evans, Robertson, Heimgartner and Belcher
19:25	AltF5K	Jordan Lloyd was someone who lost out early to the turn 12 mess as well
19:25	AltF5K	After starting well inside the top 10, he currently finds himself down in 20th and last position
19:26	AltF5K	Correction, 19th
19:26	AltF5K	Brenton Grove on debut in the second Nesia Toyota is currently in last
19:26	AltF5K	And we have a massive scrap going on for 16th between Voeckler, Watson, Clifton and Lloyd
19:26	AltF5K	As usual, Voeckler, Watson and Clifton find themselves together on track
19:27	AltF5K	And Pye's the first to stop from 2nd position
19:27	AltF5K	CRASHU!
19:27	AltF5K	Lloyd's given Clifton a love tap
19:27	AltF5K	Which sends her into Watson
19:28	AltF5K	Premat also stops in the T8 car
19:28	AltF5K	Pye's rejoined in 11th in the mantime
19:28	AltF5K	And is all over the back of Muirhead for 10th
19:28	AltF5K	And Stanaway's in from 2nd
19:29	AltF5K	As an irate Pye finds himself losing more and more time behind Muirhead
19:29	AltF5K	Before finally making the pass into turn 1
19:30	AltF5K	We now cut to a battle for 7th place between Belcher and Benji Foster-Thompson
19:31	AltF5K	Foster-Thompson has been competitive in race trim every race this season
19:31	AltF5K	And the trend continues here at Albert Park as he looks for a way past Belcher
19:31	AltF5K	PYE!
19:31	AltF5K	WHAT A MOVE!
19:31	AltF5K	STRAIGHT AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF BENJI!
19:31	AltF5K	He is having none of anyone's shit today
19:32	AltF5K	And he's straight onto the back of Belcher
20:04	AltF5K	Simpson has a lead of just over 9 seconds from McLaughlin, Rogers and Evans
20:04	AltF5K	As Rogers comes in for his mandatory stop from 3rd
20:05	AltF5K	And Scotty Pye makes another clinical move
20:05	AltF5K	This time on Belcher for P6
20:05	AltF5K	Next up for him will be Heimgartner
20:06	AltF5K	Pye's taken well over two seconds out of the leaders this lap in clear air
20:07	AltF5K	And Stanaway's coming along for the ride
20:07	AltF5K	As John Muirhead's engine blows up in spectacular fashion
20:07	AltF5K	And Lloyd's involved in another incident
20:08	AltF5K	This time with Kayra Clifton
20:08	AltF5K	And the leaders Simpson and McLaughlin are in
20:08	AltF5K	Evans stays out for another lap
20:08	AltF5K	As Robertson follows suit
20:08	AltF5K	Has Pye done enough?
20:08	AltF5K	He has!
20:08	AltF5K	Simpson emerges behind
20:09	AltF5K	And Aaron Watson is in the fence hard at turn 12
20:09	AltF5K	Pye is having none of Heimgartner's shit
20:09	AltF5K	As he makes a forceful dive at turn 9
20:10	AltF5K	Evans pits from P1
20:10	AltF5K	Leaving Pye at the front of the field
20:10	AltF5K	He has just 2.6 seconds on Simpson
20:10	AltF5K	Who in turn has just over a second on Stanaway
20:11	AltF5K	Simpson's flying though
20:11	AltF5K	As he takes SEVEN TENTHS out of Pye in sector 1!
20:12	AltF5K	And Michael Robertson's afternoon comes to an early conclusion
20:12	AltF5K	A transmission failure being the cause of his demise
20:12	AltF5K	And Simpson is right with Pye as they start lap 12 of 19
20:12	AltF5K	He has a look into 3
20:12	AltF5K	But isn't quite close enough
20:13	AltF5K	He has another look into 11 and 12
20:13	AltF5K	But thinks better of it
20:14	AltF5K	Behind them, Rogers is defending 4th from McLaughlin and Evans
20:14	AltF5K	Both of whom are on far fresher tyres than him
20:14	AltF5K	Simpson has another look into 1
20:14	AltF5K	But Pye holds on!
20:14	AltF5K	Scotty is holding onto this lead for dear life
20:15	AltF5K	Simpson has another look into 6
20:15	AltF5K	But still he can't get past the Bryan Taylor car
20:15	AltF5K	Pye goes defensive into 8
20:15	AltF5K	9*
20:15	AltF5K	And again into 13
20:16	AltF5K	Evans meanwhile does a bump n run on McLaughlin to nab 5th spot
20:17	AltF5K	Simpson has another look into 3 this time around
20:17	AltF5K	As Belcher and Shae Davies got for a trip into the turn 13 gravel trap
20:17	AltF5K	But amazingly, Pye is still holding on
20:17	AltF5K	They have traffic up ahead though in the form of Adelaide Voeckler
20:17	AltF5K	ROGERS!
20:17	AltF5K	He passes Stanaway for 3rd into 9!
20:18	AltF5K	SIMPSON!
20:18	AltF5K	HE MAKES THE MOVE INTO 13!
20:18	AltF5K	BUT LOSES IT ON EXIT!
20:18	AltF5K	PYE'S BACK IN FRONT!
20:18	AltF5K	We have just five laps to go
20:18	AltF5K	Stanaway's run out of grip
20:18	AltF5K	As Evans passes him with ease
20:19	AltF5K	The Kiwi now sets his sights on taking 3rd from Rogers
20:19	AltF5K	Simpson has a look into 8
20:19	AltF5K	But he divebombs Pye into 9
20:19	AltF5K	And finally gets the move done
20:19	AltF5K	OH NO!
20:19	AltF5K	DISASTER FOR PYE!
20:19	AltF5K	THE ENGINE HAS EXPLODED!
20:20	AltF5K	And after such a magnificent run, Pye's afternoon is done
20:20	AltF5K	The Byran Taylor crew are absolutely devastated as he pulls up just before pit entry
20:20	AltF5K	Evans meanwhile is up into 2nd place
20:20	AltF5K	With a clinical move on Rogers into turn 1
20:21	AltF5K	The question now is with just 4 laps to go, does he have anything for Simpson?
20:21	AltF5K	The gap is 4.7 seconds
20:21	AltF5K	And Evans' tyres are a lap fresher
20:21	AltF5K	Further back, we have Heimgartner closing on Premat for 6th at a vast rate of knots
20:22	AltF5K	Evans is catching Simpson
20:22	AltF5K	The gap is down to 3.9 with 3 to go
20:22	AltF5K	And Simpson now has traffic to deal with
20:23	AltF5K	Behind him, Stanaway is fighting for dear life to remain in 4th ahead of McLaughlin
20:23	AltF5K	But to no avail as he runs out of road at turn 9
20:23	AltF5K	The gap up front is now down to just 2.5 seconds
20:23	AltF5K	But Simpson now has a car between him and Evans
20:24	AltF5K	Its down to 1.9 at the line
20:25	AltF5K	It's back up to 2.3 as Evans laps Voeckler
20:25	AltF5K	It's back down to 2.1 at the end of sector 2
20:25	AltF5K	Evans can smell blood in the water
20:25	AltF5K	But does he have enough time left?
20:26	AltF5K	Simpson starts the final lap
20:26	AltF5K	And the gap is back to 1.9
20:27	AltF5K	Simpson pulls something out on the final lap though
20:28	AltF5K	And he'll hold on to win a thriller at Albert Park!
20:28	AltF5K	Mitch Evans comes home in 2nd place for his fifth podium finish in a row
20:28	AltF5K	And Lee Rogers brings the BRM team their best even result with a 3rd place finish
20:29	AltF5K	Scott McLaughlin will come home 4th ahead of Richie Stanaway, Andre Heimgartner, Alex Premat, Benji Foster-Thompson, Jordan Lloyd and Tim Blanchard
20:29	AltF5K	As Kayra Clifton steals 14th position from Brenton Grove on the final lap of the race
20:30	AltF5K	While it will be scant consolation for what was an epic drive, Scotty Pye will walk away with the point for fastest lap