Green tyre gains to be made for BJR in Newcastle
Brad Jones Racing’s first hit out for 2023 in the Repco Supercars Championship provided some mixed results, however the team has ended the day pleased with its practice running.
R&J Batteries driver Andre Heimgartner topped the first session of the Gen3 era in his new Chevrolet Camaro, and backed that up by being fifth fastest in the second of the three practices on Friday.
Team-mate Bryce Fullwood joined him inside the top ten in the first session, ending up eighth as the flag came out.
The team however feels that while they experienced no major issues over the day, there’s time to be gained on the new or ‘green’ tyres.
Overnight, drivers and engineers will look over the data and come back refreshed tomorrow for the first qualifying session of the year, following by Race 1.
Supercars are back on track tomorrow at 11:5 AEDT for qualifying with the first race starting at 1520 AEDT.
Joining the Supercars event this weekend is the first round of Super2, and BJR’s contender in the series, Lochie Dalton.
It was Dalton’s first time on the streets of Newcastle and he was able to get a good understanding of the tricky street circuit over the course of the two practice sessions.
However his run on new tyres was hampered by a red flag, so he wasn't able to get the most out of the ZB Commodore.
Dalton is back in the #43 for qualifying tomorrow at 10:25 AEDT.
What they had to say…
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars Driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"It was like aeroplane up and down. But it was alright, I think we learned a lot. We still got some problems to solve overnight to be there but I think it's for our car positive overall we're pretty speedy on the used tyre which is good. So yeah, we're just gonna chip away and hopefully we make some changes overnight and then we'll get it going on a green tyre but I think overall it's not a bad first day.
I don't really have a goal. So let's just maximize what we can we know we have the potential to just try and put it together."
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars Driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
"I think we had a pretty good day. We did a lot of race running in our program. It's gonna be good fun come the race because I think we're going to struggle a little bit which is going to be part of the fun. But yeah, I think where we ended up for the day, it's very, very tight. So if we can find a little gain overnight, we'll be able to jump some positions. So still plenty of work to do. Can't wait to get stuck into it and go for tomorrow.
"Goal for tomorrow I mean, I think the goal for us is to shoot for the top 10 that's what I really want. Just wind into the weekend So we'll see how we go from there."
Jack Smith
Supercars Driver, #14 SCT Logistics Camaro
"I think we've had better first days before, but you know, it's always gonna be hard with the circumstances, new cars and whatnot. But yeah, I think I probably could have adapted a bit better but overall tricky, it was a hard day.
I think if we can qualify the top 15, that'd be great. Yeah, we just need to really improve on from where we were today."
Macauley Jones
Supercars Driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
"Practice three was actually not too bad for us on the old tyre, when we put on the new tyres it didn't really hook up very well and just made a mistake there. But over the day, it felt like it was really solid. It's the first day me and the engineer have been working together. And you know, that all ran really smoothly and it's a pretty gnarly track and it's a pretty gnarly car so it's been a good challenge, and it's been a lot of fun."
Lochie Dalton - Super 2
"Yeah, so it was pretty good. We learned a lot, obviously first time here so it was pretty tricky to start with. We didn't really get too many laps through practice we had a few little gremlins. So we got on top of them and then in practice two was really good. We ran the old tyre for most of the session. And it was quick. And then just as we went to the new tyres, typical street circuit - car and the fence and a red flag, so we didn't get to do a new tyre run. But we're pretty confident that the car pace is there and yeah, hopefully tomorrow we get a clean run and should be somewhere special.
"Newcastle feels like a roller coaster you're about to fall out of but so far, it's pretty good. Yeah, I think we're pretty much on top of it now and hopefully fine tune things for tomorrow."