Mixed Saturday for BJR at Queensland Raceway
Some excellent strategy calls from the Brad Jones Racing crew made the most of a challenging day at the Ipswich Super 440.
Bryce Fullwood and Andre Heimgartner were the biggest movers in Race 24, coming through the field after a good call by their teams to come to the pitlane.
Fullwood was running as high as fifth late in the race before those who were on newer tyres caught up to the JWL Racing Camaro.
Taking the flag in 11th, followed by the R&J Batteries entry in 12th.
Macauley Jones in the Pizza Hut Racing Camaro had a later stop for four tyres, meaning he finished in 18th.
The SCT Motorsport team had another heartbreak on lap 1.
Jaxon Evans was caught up in someone else' s accident and sustained significant damage to the right rear of the car.
From there his race was done, however the team did fix it and send him back out for checks.
Evans’ had earlier led the BJR contingent in Race 23, with pace in hand and a great strategy call he claimed 11th.
While overall it was a challenging race for the team with penalties and a mechanical failure proving costly.
Macauley Jones had a small piece fail in his gear shifter, and while the team was able to fix it enough for him to get back out into the race - he had to limp home.
Fullwood received a penalty that put him back in 23rd, for a tangle with garage-mate Heimgartner.
The Kiwi recorded a 21st in Race 23.
There will be some work for the team to do overnight to look into qualifying pace, with Race 25 quali scheduled for 10:20am AEST.
Super2
Brad Vaughan has scored his second podium with Brad Jones Racing on what has been a successful Saturday for the Super2 squad.
The Adelaide-based driver put together a brilliant lap in the morning's qualifying session scoring Pole Position for Race 1.
While the race was plagued by a Safety Car, the #80 Dormer HVAC Services ZB Commodore driver fought off Bailey Sweeney crossing the line in second.
Team-mate Cody Gillis also scored a Top 10 finish after qualifying 10th.
The karting star held position and came homewhere he started after a fiesty battle after the restart.
The final day of action at Queensland Raceway kicks off with Qualifying at 09:45 AEST tomorrow.
SUPERCARS RESULTS
Qualifying Race 23
15 - Jaxon Evans, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
19 - Bryce Fullwood, #14 JWL Racing Camaro
20 - Andre Heimgartner, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
23 - Macauley Jones, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
Qualifying Race 24
19 - Andre Heimgartner, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
20 - Jaxon Evans, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
23 - Macauley Jones, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
24 - Bryce Fullwood, #14 JWL Racing Camaro
Race 23
11 - Jaxon Evans, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
21 - Andre Heimgartner, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
23 - Bryce Fullwood, #14 JWL Racing Camaro
26 - Macauley Jones, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
Qualifying Race 24
12 - Andre Heimgartner, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
11 - Bryce Fullwood, #14 JWL Racing Camaro
18 - Macauley Jones, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
DNF - Jaxon Evans, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
SUPERCARS QUOTEBOARD
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
“The day didn’t start off to great but ended half alright. Trying to stay out of trouble. Had half the right speed and came home 12th so not too bad. Just need to qualify better, same story as the last few rounds really. Just got to keep on chipping, keep on keeping on.”
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 JWL Racing Camaro
“Qualifying certainly didn't quite get it together for us. Feel like we're on the back foot a fair bit from Friday. Had a few little issues and got a bit baulked and then made a little mistake. It just didn't really come together for us. The first race was pretty tough. The car was a little bit average, I made a mistake, just not a very clean race. We made some big changes to the car for the second race. Obviously, there was a big crash at the start, but we got through all that and made a lot of spots. The car was actually quite quick in the race and starting to feel much more like what I need. So, I went very aggressive with the two-tyre strategy very early. Nearly worked amazing but just ran ourselves out of tyre just a little bit but a lot of learning for going into tomorrow. Pretty pumped about tomorrow to see what we can do.”
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro
“Really struggling in qualifying, just not really getting my head around this place. Race 1 was disappointing with the gearbox quadrant failing. Race 2 just struggled to hang on to the tyre life. Stayed out of most of the carnage at turn one but I feel like I’ve got a bit a bit of work to do.”
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
“So earlier race today was pretty good. Qualifying started strong on the soft tyre. Felt like our first run was good, and then unfortunately, missed the timing and missed our second lap on the second set of tyres. So felt like we should have been in the 10, but we weren't. Nonetheless, we were 15th so not all that bad. Sper soft quality was not great, just didn't quite have the car balance for that tyre. The first race this afternoon was a strong one in difficult conditions, start of the race was slightly damp but managed to stay out of trouble and finished 11th. which was quite good considering the circumstances. And then this afternoon's race just didn't really happen. Got a good start and just got tangled up in the stuff at Turn 1. Felt like someone just kept pushing me into the accident and ended up doing too much damage. So got the car back out to make sure everything was fine. So we'll go again tomorrow."
SUPER2 RESULTS
Qualifying Race 1
1 - Brad Vaughan #80, Dormer HVAC ZB Commodore
10 - Cody Gillis, #9 DARE ZB Commodore
Race 1
2- Brad Vaughan #80, Dormer HVAC ZB Commodore
10 - Cody Gillis, #9 DARE ZB Commodore
SUPER2 QUOTEBOARD
Cody Gillis
Super2 driver, #9 DARE ZB Commodore
“Pretty good turnaround from Friday practice. Went out and qualified P10 which is good compared to yesterday. Brad was P1 and we were only two tenths off him which sucks but at the same time it's pretty good and super tight out there. Race was a bit hard with the 20-minute safety car so not many racing laps. Definitely some stuff to work on and hopefully we can get a little bit more out of the car in quali so we start a little bit further up.”
Brad Vaughan
Super2 driver, #80 Dormer HVAC ZB Commodore
“Good day finishing in P2. I didn't get quite the start that I wanted but managed to get back to second and then a big, long safety car which disrupted the race. The car's really, really quick. It’s something the team should be really proud of is how far we've come already with this car. So I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”