BJR buoyed by pace on the opening day of the Bathurst 1000

Supercars

The Brad Jones Racing team have been buoyed by the pace of their four cars during Thursday’s sessions at Mount Panorama.

Andre Heimgartner in the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro showed his speed out of the gate, sitting well within the top five during most of the first practice session.

However he wasn’t able to pull together his ideal lap on his green tyre run at the end of Practice 1, the Kiwi finished in 13th.

Bryce Fullwood in the Middy’s Electrical Camaro slotted himself into 10th on his final run.

Fullwood is happy with where the #14 Camaro is at and after the race pace, he and Jaylyn Robotham showed at the previous round the pair have confidence  for the rest of the weekend. 

Macauley Jones meanwhile spent a lot of P1 working on understeer in the Pizza Hut Racing Camaro, however he was 14th fastest.

The SCT Logistics Camaro was a bit nervous across the top of the Mountain, something that Jaxon Evans and his crew were working to correct throughout the day.

Evans finished the first practice in 16th. 

Heimgartner’s co-driver Declan Fraser made his way into the top 10 during a topsy-turvy Practice 2.

With multiple delays to the start of the session and then a red flag cutting it even shorter than the amended time, it was a hard one to get a read on.

The first delay to P2 was due to an oil spill in a support category before a snake was then discovered on track at Forrest’s Elbow.

Only Fraser was able to do a green tyre run with the red flag interrupting what would have been a fast few laps for the co-drivers.

Jordan Boys (#96 Pizza Hut Racing) ended the session in 22nd with Robotham in 24th and Dean Fiore (#50 SCT Motorsport) in 25th.

The Bathurst 1000 lead-up continues tomorrow with Practice 3 on track at 10:05 AEDT.

Super2

A difficult first day on track for the Super2 duo with Elliott Cleary not receiving the ideal amount of running time due to unfortunate circumstances and Cody Gillis still trying to find his groove at the Mountain.

During Practice 1, Cleary brushed the wall which ended his session early.

However the team had the car back out and ready to go for the second practice session.

The #19 Sync Music ZB Commodore driver had limited running in that session due to red flags but finished in 19th.

While Cleary is a rookie in Super2 he has the experience to lean on from multiple visits to the Mountain from his extensive racing schedule, which means the limited time on track shouldn't hurt his weekend too badly. 

Cody Gillis will be looking at the data overnight in hopes to gain a few positions in qualifying tomorrow.

The karting star feels the car isn't too different from Round 1 back in February and has an idea on the areas that need to be fixed to be set for qualifying in the morning. 

The boys are back on track tomorrow for Race 1 qualifying at 9:30 AEDT.

Supercars Quoteboard

Andre Heimgartner
 Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
“A good day first day overall. Nothing spectacular results wise but I think we’ve got a pretty speedy car. We had some really strong pace, and I think ultimately with the green tyre to go and qualify, it'd be very strong. A good start, who knows what will happen to the track and how it’ll develop but good so far. Declan's comfortable, I'm comfortable and looking forward to what will come over the next couple days. Tomorrow I get to qualify the car so it's exciting.”

Declan Fraser
Supercars co-driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
“First day at Bathurst and I’m very happy. We rolled out with a relatively quick car so Andre was somewhat quick in the first session and then I ended up p9 in that last session. I’m pretty stoked with the way that the car ran. We were just focusing on our race run plans because we want to make sure that when we get to Sunday we’ve got a race winning car. So, we went out with a high fuel load and just had a bit of fun. I’m still learning the track again in a new car for me, and I felt really comfortable. It’s really nice to roll out of the truck with a car that's capable of doing that straight away on those fuel loads and rolling on to tomorrow, we’ve got a straight car which is the main thing. We're still high in spirits and ready to go again.”

Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
“Day one at Bathurst done. Obviously, it’s a really cool event here so far. The track to town and signings having heaps of fans here. It's been an awesome experience. I was 10th fastest in my practice early this morning, which was good. We still have some work to do with the car but I’m pretty happy so far. We didn't get a chance to put another set of tyres on for Jay in that session with that crash at the end there but all good with our car at the minute. We've obviously got plenty of practices to go and I’m looking forward to another day tomorrow.”

Jaylyn Robotham
Supercars co-driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
"Day one finished. Good to get back out on track. Had the co-driver session then, and it was just working on a few corners and stuff. We just needed to chuck a better set of tyres on at the end. Then unfortunately the session got cut short due to all the other stuff. But looking forward to tomorrow."

Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
“Thursday's always a hard one to be super judgmental on with how the car is and in your approach. It’s pretty early in the weekend and I felt like the track was pretty average in the middle of the day today. I feel okay in the car. I feel like it’s probably a bit better than what we had at the start of the year which is nice. We've made some progress throughout the year. Jordan got to chip away at it too during Practice 2. It's obviously a long race on Sunday but qualifying is the main focus for now. Hopefully we can find some speed out of it tomorrow.”

Jordan Boys
Supercars co-driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
“It was a good Practice 2 for me. We did a race run at the start and the car feels okay. I think we have a bit to work on before qualifying tomorrow but it feels comfortable enough. We probably got a little bit sketchy towards the end of the run, so we'll have a look at it tonight hopefully the track has a bit more grip tomorrow and we can go from there.”

Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #50 SCT Logistics Camaro
“Practice 1 was obviously nice to be back on track. It's always good to turn your first laps at Bathurst for the first time in a few months. Was a little bit nervous in the first few outings, but we tuned the car up a fair bit and started to feel a bit more confident so I’m happy with the progress that we made. We finished up 16th in the first session which is a good base for Thursday. I think where we are on the results sheets is not relative to where we actually are as some red flags in the second session meant that Dean didn't get a run on some better tyres. But overall, I think it's a solid first day. We've got four straight cars and seem to be somewhat speedy across them so I’m confident that we can continue to build and keep gearing up for a fast qualifying session and a good race.”

Dean Fiore
Supercars co-driver, #50 SCT Logistics Camaro
"Actually not feeling that well- healthwise, so it was really good to just get that session out the way. The car actually feels quite good. I was quite out of sorts healthwise, there for most of that session. We didn't get to run a better set of shoes, which is a shame but I don't think a lot of people did. Looking forward to tomorrow."

Super2 Quoteboard

Elliott Cleary
Super2 driver, #19 Sync Music ZB Commodore 
“I got in an accident in Practice 1 which wasn't ideal and that put us on the battle. The boys did a good job fixing the car up to get back on track for the second practice session. I’m still just trying to iron out some of the issues which cost us a lot of running time today. So not the most ideal day but I’ll look through the data tonight to try and turn around tomorrow morning.”

Cody Gillis
Super2 driver, #9 Bowser Bean ZB Commodore 
“Okay day today. Probably not exactly what we wanted but we know what we need to fix for tomorrow. It’s good to be back at the mountain, we were here earlier this year and have some valuable data from that round so I’ve got a lot of study to do tonight. We'll go over it and be prepared in the morning.”