Jones qualifies in 11th for BJR at Bathurst 1000
Macauley Jones in the Pizza Hut Racing entry will start the Bathurst 1000 from 11th after an incredibly tight qualifying session at the Mountain.
Jones was inside the top ten for the majority of the session, dipping into the 2.04’s on his third run, the #96 had speed.
Only improving from there, Jones’ final lap looked like he was on for a second row on the grid but a tiny error meant he fell to 11th, he was just pipped by five thousandths of a second for the Shootout.
Unfortunately in the R&J Batteries Camaro, Andre Heimgartner couldn’t get the car settled across the top of the Mountain.
That means the #8 car will start the Great Race in 19th.
Bryce Fullwood and Jaxon Evans also felt that their Camaros were a bit nervous up the Mountain and weren’t able to get the best out of them.
However the team is positive with two more practice sessions tomorrow, that they can have a strong race on Sunday.
Practice 5 for Brad Jones Racing is at 10:05am AEDT tomorrow morning.
Super2
Brad Vaughan has scored another top 10 result in Race 1 of the Super2 series for Brad Jones Racing despite facing engine issues.
The young driver qualified 11th in the mornings session and made his way up from there during the race.
Cody Gillis had a tough day facing setup issues with the car and finding his groove on track.
The Wollongong-based driver lined up in 15th on the grid and struggled in the race crossing the line in 16th.
One final day of on-track action remains for the Super2 series with Qualifying for Race 2 kicking off at 0915 AEDT.
SUPERCARS RESULTS
Practice 3 - All drivers
P.10 - Andre Heimgartner & Declan Fraser, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
P.18 - Macauley Jones & Jordan Boys, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
P.22 - Bryce Fullwood & Brad Vaughan, #14 Autmotive Superstore Racing Camaro
P.23 - Jaxon Evans & Jack Smith, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
Practice 4 - All drivers
P.16 - Macauley Jones & Jordan Boys, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
P.18 - Bryce Fullwood & Brad Vaughan, #14 Autmotive Superstore Racing Camaro
P.23 - Andre Heimgartner & Declan Fraser, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
P.25 - Jaxon Evans & Jack Smith, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
Qualifying
P.11 - Macauley Jones #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
P.19 - Andre Heimgartner #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
P.24 - Jaxon Evans, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
P.25 - Bryce Fullwood #14 Autmotive Superstore Racing Camaro
SUPERCARS QUOTEBOARD
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
“Bit of a horrendous day for us. However, there’s still plenty of room for us to improve and it was good to see Macca get some speed – he had a genuinely front-running car. It’s awesome for them, but for us there’s a bit of work to do so we’ll check over everything. The weekend started out really well but then things just went off and didn’t make sense. Hopefully, we can sort something out – it’s a long race ahead."
Declan Fraser
Supercars co-driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
“It was an interesting day for us. We struggled a little with pace; especially in qualifying. We took a couple of swings at some things and I think we got a bit closer to the mark toward the end of the sessions, but just couldn’t nail it. We’re starting P19 for the race which isn’t ideal but it’s a long one. We’ve seen people come from the back of the grid to the front at the Mountain, so anything can happen. I feel like we had a good race car last year, so if we carry some of that over into Sunday then it’ll be awesome. In the meantime we have got a couple more practice sessions, so we’ll keep digging and be ready by race time.”
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Automotive Superstore Racing Camaro
“It was an odd day for us here at Bathurst. In Practice Four, I felt like the car was quite good – there were some really positive signs. I actually hit the wall out of the grate on a lap that would have put us in the top 10, which would’ve been really cool, and I felt like we were moving in the right direction. We didn’t really change the car much for qualifying, and then the wheels literally fell off – I’m not sure what happened. We ended up qualifying 25th. I tried my best, scraping the mirrors everywhere against the fence, but I couldn’t get more out of it. I’m very very disappointed because I felt like our potential was solid going into qualifying and now we’re starting at the back for the big race. Hopefully the racing gods look after us where we have a fast car and we can move forward on Sunday."
Brad Vaughan
Supercars co-driver, #14 Automotive Superstore Racing Camaro
“The main game felt really strong for me this morning. I got plenty of laps in and felt like I was matching Bryce as best I could, which was great. I felt really comfortable and that’s exciting heading into Sunday. We’ve got a bit of work to do though starting off from 25th, but looking forward to the race”
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro“
"I’m pretty happy with the Qualifying result. All in all, I’m a little frustrated with myself – I feel like we were on for a really solid lap there at the end but I made a mistake in the last sector. There was a lot of potential there. Overall though, we’ve had a pretty solid car. We haven’t made many changes, which is a really good sign for us and Jordan’s doing a great job as well with the heavy fuel runs. We’ll focus on some race-car work tomorrow and see what the car’s like on race day – and what the weather does for us.”
Jordan Boys
Supercars co-driver, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
“Practice was really good. We did some heavy-fuel running for my stint which is what we focused on yesterday as well. We’re just tuning it up little by little and it’s really encouraging. It was great to see Macca get the most out of it in quali. He feels like he missed out a bit, but it was a really cool thing to be part of and I’m really proud of him and the team. We’ll see how we go over the next couple of days.”
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
“Today was really difficult actually. It was supposed to be a fun day with qualifying and all, but unfortunately, we couldn’t quite nail the car setup or the way to drive the circuit to extract the speed. It was a little bit frustrating on my behalf, but now that qualifying’s out of the way we can reset. We’re starting further back than we’d like, but we’ve got all of tomorrow to work on the race car and hopefully tune it up and race our way forward.”
Jack Smith
Supercars co-driver, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro“
"We struggled for pace a little bit throughout the day. I only did a few laps at the start, but it was a big day of preparing for qualifying. Ultimately, we didn’t end up where we’d like to be, but it’s super tight out there. We’ve got a day to get everything right before the racing on Sunday.”
SUPER2 RESULTS
Qualifying Race 1
11 - Brad Vaughan, #80 Dormer HVAC Racing ZB Commodore
15 - Cody Gillis, #9 Bowser Bean ZB Commodore
Race 1
9- Brad Vaughan, #80 Dormer HVAC Racing ZB Commodore
16 - Cody Gillis, #9 Bowser Bean ZB Commodore
SUPER2 QUOTEBOARD
Cody Gillis
Super2 driver, #9 Bowser Bean ZB Commodore
“Pretty tough day here at Bathurst. Struggling with setup and definitely some driver stuff to work on. Awesome to have Bowser Bean back for this round and also Dare Iced Coffee. Lots of study to do tonight and let’s turn it around for tomorrow.”
Brad Vaughan
Super2 driver, #80 Dormer HVAC Racing ZB Commodore
“We went through a few engine issues today so hopefully we can have that sorted for tomorrow. I think P9 in the race is a good result considering what we're up against. We’ll go again tomorrow.”