BJR makes the most of pre-endurance season outing

Brad Jones Racing has completed their testing program in the lead up to the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 endurance events.

The Supercars team had a false start on Tuesday the 5th, with weather dictating the day’s outcome.

Rain plagued the morning at Winton Motor Raceway and the BJR squad weren’t able to get their desired testing programs cleanly underway with the stop-start showers.

Coming back to the Victorian circuit today (Wednesday 6th), BJR were able to cycle through their running with each of the drivers and co-drivers getting important seat time.

#4 Co-driver Jaxon Evans arrived from his overseas racing exploits and was quick to jump in the SCT Motorsports machine for the first time this year before racing it in 11 days.

Evans made the most of the limited time available as he sampled the Gen3 Camaro for the first time.

Guided by main driver Jack Smith, Evans was able to get up to speed over the morning before handing the car back to Smith.

Dean Fiore (Co-driver #14 Middy’s Electrical Camaro), Dale Wood (Co-driver #8 R&J Batteries Camaro) and Jordan Boys (#96 Pizza Hut Racing Camaro), all logged valuable laps.

It wasn’t just the drivers being put to the test, the pit stop crew were also putting in the work to perfect the art of endurance stops and driver changes.

Overall it was a productive day for the team, giving all eight drivers confidence heading into the Sandown 500 (September 15-17).

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Andre Heimgartner
Supercars Driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"Our test today was good, we  prepared for the enduros. So we also got to test a lot of things and answer a lot of questions that we had from Tailem Bend. So, overall positive day and was happy with our running."

Dale Wood
Supercars Co-Driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"I mean for me a little bit of a slow start just adjusting to the setup of the car and that sort of thing and then obviously getting through a few issues with the steering rack that they were trialing. Otherwise I think the day finished really well. I think it's been a really successful test day in terms of what's been learned with the car. So you know, hopefully a lot of that stuff we can now take the Sandown, I think the form is there anyway with what Andre is doing. So you know it's going to be down to the two of us just doing the job, but I think that all the ingredients are there for a really good year."

Bryce Fullwood
Supercars Driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
"Obviously important test for us today coming into enduros. I think the main goal today was to just get the procedures down-pat with driver change stuff, obviously new car, spike's in different spot, everything's very different from our last car. So had to change up our procedures quite a bit. So it was good to run through all of those today. Obviously, you can only do so many in the workshop. So to do some hot stops really good, really happy with that driver change stuff today. Then obviously just continued learning with the race car. Through the race meetings, we don't get a lot of time to make big changes. So it was good to get some big changes in the car today and try and learn. I feel like we answered some questions, but I feel like we also leave here with a lot more different questions. So yeah, it's just the way it goes. But looking forward to going racing next weekend at Sandown."

Dean Fiore
Supercars Co-Driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
"Good, productive day. It was great to get more laps in this car because they are quite a bit different to try and get the last little bit out of. So it was good to just get more laps under my belt which is key for us. It's good this year going into a warm up like Sandown but yeah,  still need those laps. We made some changes and I learned a lot."

Jack Smith
Supercars Driver, #14 SCT Logistics Camaro
"Today was an important day for us wth the pre enduro test. We had Jaxon here this morning and cut a lot of laps to some start and then some driver change stuff - it's really good to clear all that. Running in this afternoon was good the bits that we got on track were good, would have been nice to test a few more things but didn't quite get there but going into Sandown I think,  we can, hopefully convert the items that we tested today. Make them useful at Sandown and create a fast car."

Jaxon Evans
Supercars Co-Driver, #14 SCT Logistics Camaro
“Was nice to rejoin Jack and the team at Winton for my first laps in the Gen3 Camaro. Very different concept to what I’m used to driving, however some similar traits that carry over, which was positive. 

“It was  really beneficial to run through the general processes before heading to Sandown. Felt like I came to grips with the car relatively quickly which makes me excited for the enduros ahead! Thanks to the team for making it a smooth introduction.”

Macauley Jones
Supercars Driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
"The day was not too bad. I think we actually got some pretty good changes in the start of the day and Donner's [Engineer, Andrew Donnelly] seemed happy which is always good. It's good for Jordan [Boys] to get laps. He seemed actually pretty happy and was pretty speedy, which is always nice. We weren't super stoked with the balance at the end of the day on SuperSofts but that's part of the game yeah. Jordan seems comfortable and pitstops and stuff are all actually pretty solid for us."

Jordan Boys
Supercars Co-Driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
"Good day overall here at Winton. It was positive just because the car felt a lot better than I did when we were here testing probably a couple months ago and the takeaways were quite good. I got through a few practice starts which is always good experience to have. It just felt like a solid day for both Macca and I. Feeling pretty confident that we can go and get some good results."