Bruising Race 2 in Sydney for Brad Jones Racing
Brad Jones Racing is focussing on the positives from Race 2 at Sydney Motorsport Park, with encouraging performances emerging despite a challenging night in the opening round of the Supercars Championship.
Cam Hill, in the #14 Dare Racing GR Supra, was the leading BJR car after 52 laps, finishing a solid 13th.
Hill showed increased confidence in his new car and delivered a tidy qualifying performance, placing 16th fastest.
He managed to stay relatively clean during a frenetic Saturday night race and brought the car home in 12th.
Andre Heimgartner, in the R&J Batteries GR Supra, qualified just ahead of Hill in 14th and moved up to 12th in the opening laps.
Unfortunately, he was struck by an engine issue on lap eight and was forced to retire from the race.
Macauley Jones suffered extraordinary bad luck after being run wide, which resulted in damage to his car.
He was forced to return to the garage for repairs to the #96 AlphaTheta Supra, losing three laps in the process.
Jones ultimately finished 23rd, multiple laps down.
The opening round of the Supercars Championship concludes with Race 3 tomorrow at 4:05pm AEDT.
Super2
Brad Vaughan has kicked off his 2026 campaign in spectacular style winning Race 1 of the Super2 series at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The young driver had a solid Qualifying firing out of second on the grid to start the race.
The Adelaide-based driving had a cracking start and led the entirety of the race.
Teammate Matt Hillyer saw himself cross the line in 7th after Qualifying 12th.
The #2 Kangan Institute ZB Commodore driver had great pace and fought hard during the race.
The final day of action kicks off tomorrow for Super2 with Qualifying at 9:55 AEST.
QUOTEBOARD
SUPERCARS
Andre Heimgartner, #8 R&J Batteries Toyota GR Supra
“Not the best day but it's all part of the journey. Unfortunately had some kind of motor issues. We were running pretty good there and in a decent spot and then the car went bang. Looking forward to tomorrow. We'll try some different stuff to try help where we're qualifying and see if we can have another strong day.”
Cameron Hiill, #14 Dare Racing Toyota GR Supra
“Today was an improvement for us in car 14. I felt like we were more competitive in qualifying and the race was very chaotic. There was a lot going on. Obviously, Andre had that engine issue which was really unfortunate but moved us up in the pit sequence. We moved up a few spots and then from there we had a pretty action-packed race to get a P12 finish. So, I'm pretty happy with that moving forward again and I feel like each day we've been trending the right direction. So hopefully we can keep that up tomorrow.
Macauley Jones, #96 AlphaTheta Racing Toyota GR Supra
“We're trying to still figure out qualifying a little bit and just the new balance of the car and figuring that side of things out. I feel like we made progress in the race, obviously despite getting hit of the back and carted off the track and then had a break in the brake duct which took the brakes. So, had a bit of an issue with that which meant we had to come in and fix unfortunately. We were a few laps down from that but still feel like we're trying to understand this new GR Supra and I feel like we are making progress.”
SUPER2
Brad Vaughan #80 Brad Jones Racing ZB Commodore
“Awesome day. Picked off where we finished last season by getting the first win of 2026 so huge shout out to the whole crew for their countless work, Dare Iced Coffee, Dormer HVAC Services. Hopefully we can carry that momentum into tomorrow, which I'm sure we will.”
Matthew Hillyer, #2 Brad Jones Racing ZB Commodore
“Bit of a spanner in the works running on the short circuit for Qualifying. Never driven on the short circuit before so made it a bit of a challenge but ended up P12, which was up five spots in the race to finish.”