Brad Jones Racing nabs top ten finish in third Tasmanian race
Sunday in Tassie threw up challenges for the Brad Jones Racing team, but an appearance in the top ten shootout and then a stellar drive from Andre Heimgartner in the race means the team leaves the Apple Isle with confidence.
In the morning’s qualifying session Jaxon Evans again showed his pace, putting in a lap good enough for seventh and earning him a spot in the Shootout.
In the super tight session, Evans was able to solidify his spot in seventh.
The other three BJR cars were unfortunately further down the grid, Bryce Fullwood started today’s race in 15th followed by Macauley Jones.
While Heimgartner was knocked out of the multi-part qualifying session and took up 19th on the grid.
The R&J Batteries driver was on a charge in the 78-lap race, picking his way through the field and a perfect stop from his crew helped his cause
Heimgartner claimed 8th at the flag.
Evans and his crew made the call to pit on Lap 28 and it was extremely unfortunate that the Safety Car came out only a handful of laps later.
The SCT Motorsport Camaro nevertheless had a strong race and came home just outside the top ten rounding out a good weekend for the #12.
Macauley Jones had an excellent start to Race 13 in the Pizza Hut Camaro, he was then forced to take avoiding action as carnage unfolded on the first lap.
He was then in a recovery driver from there and ultimately finished in a respectable 13th.
Fullwood had Birthday to forget, incurring two penalties and also copping a puncture when he had contact with Brodie Kostecki (which caused the Safety Car).
The Shure Racing Camaro finished 20th.
THe BJR crew take stock from a relatively good weekend for the team, with a handful of top tens, a podium and strong qualifying pace in Tassie.
Next up the team travels across the Nullabor to Perth (6-8 June)
Super2
Round 2 for the Super2 series has wrapped up in Tasmania with a somewhat uneventful day for the boys.
Brad put his #80 Dormer HVAC Services ZB Commodore in 10th to start the race and ultimately came home in 8th.
On the other side of the garage, Cody Gillis had a better qualifying session taking off from 15th.
The Wollongong-based driver avoided carnage in the race and was 14th at the chequered flag.
We take two strong, straight cars to Townsville ready for Round 3 on July 11-13.
SUPERCARS QUOTEBOARD
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"It was great to finish on a bit of a high in the last race. We had really good speed and it was fun to race closely with others and get stuck in. I feel like we got a bit of our mojo back which was a great way to end the weekend; especially considering how the rest of it went. Overall I’m really happy with how the day went and hopefully we’ve taken some good learnings from it and can carry that forward. Looking forward to the next one."
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Shure Racing Camaro
"Didn’t exactly get the birthday gift I was hoping for today. The car was really fast but we started off on the wrong foot this morning. I got caught up in someone else’s mistake during qualifying which set us back. Then unfortunately I had a tangle with Brodie coming out of the pits on four cold tyres - it was super close and a real shame. Apologies to him and his crew for that. The car actually had really strong pace in the race and there was a lot of potential today so I’m pretty disappointed we didn’t get to show what it could do. But overall we do take a trophy from this weekend and there’s been more pace in the car than we’ve had probably all year. So yeah, excited about that and looking forward to Perth where hopefully we can tidy things up and have a cleaner weekend."
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
“Not the day we wanted. Qualifying felt okay - just slightly on the wrong side of the ten. But I think we’ve made some good progress with the direction we’re heading in which is positive. The race was pretty hectic. I had a great start off the line right up until the exit of the first corner and then got caught up in someone else’s mess. The Safety Car actually helped us so we managed to race forward and finish P13. It was an overall pretty eventful day and looking am forward to Perth."
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
“Another strong day. I was really happy to qualify in the top 10 and make the Top 10 Shootout. It was great to have the track to myself. The lap though was a bit of a compromise where I didn’t quite nail it but still managed to line up in seventh so I was happy with that.
"Three qualifying sessions this weekend and we were in the top 10 every time, which is great. I got a decent start and felt like we were running our own race. Things were going well until we decided to pit based on our pre-race discussions. Unfortunately, the Safety Car came out two laps later which that really hurt our strategy and slowed us down which was frustrating.
"Still, I think we did a good job recovering and fighting back. We finished just outside the top 10 so a bit of a frustrating way to end what was an otherwise very positive weekend. Big thanks to the team and the crew on Car 12 for sticking with it – hopefully they can see the light at the end of the tunnel."
SUPER2 QUOTEBOARD
Cody Gillis
Super2 driver, #9 Bennetts Petroleum ZB Commodore
“Unfortunately, another tough weekend here in Tassie. We thought we made the car a little bit better overnight qualifying a little bit further up the grid and had some pretty good race pace. But ended up in that train where you can't really do much. Obviously looking forward to Townsville because we get to drive up in the sunny part of the country. A lot of work to do over the break and come back a bit stronger hopefully.”
Brad Vaughan
Super2 driver, #80 Dormer HVAC ZB Commodore
“A tough weekend, probably one of my toughest in Super two. But we did make a lot of progress over the weekend. To have two top 10 finishes is good on points. We’ll be sixth or seventh I'd say in the points. We’ll put our heads together and make sure that we go to Townsvilleand we dominate.”