Miraculous drive from Fullwood/Robotham from back of grid to top ten in Sandown 500
The Middy’s Electrical Camaro made an amazing comeback at the Sandown 500, racing through from 23rd on the grid to 9th.
The shortened race which ran to time certainty and contained five Safety Car periods, was a wild ride for all Brad Jones Racing drivers.
However, the #14 Camaro at the hands of Bryce Fullwood and Jaylyn Robotham were able to strategise their way into the top 10.
Andre Heimgartner and Declan Fraser weren’t far off in 11th in the R&J Batteries Camaro.
However, the pair were running inside the top 5 for the majority of the race until a Safety Car near two thirds of the way through the race.
The #8 Camaro had stopped under green conditions only a handful of laps before and was therefore caught out when others were able to stop under the SC.
On the otherside of the garage wall, the #96 and #50 entries had a challenging day with both cars spending time in the garages during the race.
While Jordan Boys was in the seat of the Pizza Hut Racing Camaro, the car was spun off and into the wall causing damage to one of the arms.
The team were able to speedily repair the #96 Camaro but it was still multiple laps down, Macauley Jones and Boys finished the race in 21st.
Jaxon Evans and Dean Fiore also sustained damage and unfortunately had an issue with their starter motor.
The SCT Motorsport Camaro had to be re-fired in the garage before it could continue.
They were abe to continue but also lost a number of laps, Evans and Fiore saw the flag in 22nd.
BJR now prepares for the big one, with the Bathurst 1000 only a few weeks away (9-13 October).
Super2
A gritty Sunday has rounded out the weekend for the Super2 duo.
Elliott Cleary showed some pace in qualifying and started the race from 14th.
While trying to avoid other mishaps around him, the teen found himself running wide and becoming stuck in the grass.
The #19 Sync Music ZB Commodore crew assessed the damage in pit lane and were able to send him back out on track and he crossed the line in 22nd.
Cody Gillis had a less-than-ideal qualifying session lining his #9 Bowser Bean Commodore up from 20th for the race.
Gillis had good race pace and made his way up to 14th even after a pit lane penalty for contact with another car but unfortunately ran off the track, grazing the wall which dropped him down the order.
However with how the race played out, Wollongong-based driver still was able to secure 14th at the line.
The Dunlop Series continues with Round 5 at the Bathurst 1000 on October 11-14.
Supercars Quoteboard
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
“A bit of an average day for us. Unfortunately, couldn't capitalise on our speed and everything. This weekend was a good weekend up until part of the race. We just had some of the strategy not go our way and it was just one of those things. I finished 11th, so not terrible but definitely not what we were hoping for heading into today so hopefully we can go to Bathurst and have good speed again to see if we can get a better result there.”
Declan Fraser
Supercars co-driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
“The day started off very well. We ended up topping warm up which was nice. We were comfortable going into the race. Andre got a mint start and had us up inside the top five straight away. He managed that well. I jumped in and we stayed in that position for the whole entirety of our stint and actually had really good car pace. We decided to take a bit of a risk on our strategy and stay out while everyone else pitted, and unfortunately got caught out by a safety car which buried us down in the pack. We know we had the speed and can take a lot of positives out of this weekend. I’m super grateful for Brad and the whole team for welcoming me in this weekend. It's my first race with the team and we’ve obviously got Bathurst coming up. I can't wait to get after it.”
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
“A big day here at Sandown. What a whirlwind. I think we passed 13 cars or something close to that today. That’s basically half the field so pretty happy with that. Jay did a good job in the car. I feel like we struggled a little bit with our car this weekend and we didn't know how much to chase it going into the race. Ultimately, I think the car was actually quite good in the end. The boys back in the pits here did a really, really good job of the strategy. With 40 laps to go I was last, and I'm still not really sure how I ended up where I have so the guys here in the bunker have done an awesome job. I can't wait to roll on to Bathurst with Jay and the team to hopefully get some good results there too.”
Jaylyn Robotham
Supercars co-driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
“Really good day today. Pretty action packed, we had a couple of battles. Some guys were getting a bit keen early on and burned the tyres out trying to make passes. But I just tried keeping it as straight as possible and drove. I think I did a good job keeping the tyre on. I got hit a couple times which hurt our speed a little bit with the tyres. I handed back over to Bryce and the safety car came at the wrong time. It wasn’t looking like we were going to move up too many spots and then it kind of all worked out well. Really happy overall and hoping we can qualify further up the grid in Bathurst and keep the good race pace.”
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
“Copped some damage on lap one of the race in the rear which was a bit frustrating. The tyre life wasn't great off the start, but we made some changes in the stops which helped. Jordan getting turned around and put into the fence there wasn't ideal for us and put us a few laps down. We sort of prayed for safety cars but that didn't pay out for us. It just wasn't really to be today. The car was pretty speedy. A bit of right hand down all race wasn't ideal either, but we brought it home in the end.”
Jordan Boys
Supercars co-driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
“It started good. I’m not exactly sure where we were running but we were tracking okay and then I’d just passed another driver, and he just crashed into me and turned me around which bent the car. That was annoying. The guys in the garage did a really good job and got the car quite straight considering the hit. The rest of the race we had good pace but were just a couple laps down so it sucks but promising for Bathurst.”
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #50 SCT Logistics Camaro
“My race now that it's finished, was pretty average to be honest. I made a good start and felt pretty comfortable after the first stint. Handed over to Dean who as he said, got caught up in a bit of stuff and then settled into a nice rhythm. He trucked away and handed the car over to me, and unfortunately, I made a very big rookie mistake down at Dandenong Road on my outlap. I locked a brake and hit the fence, not hard, but when they pulled me back out of the gravel trap, the car wouldn't start. The guys had to get to work once I got back to pit lane to get me going again which they did, thankfully. It was sort of too far gone at that point. We were six or seven laps down, so I was just sort of out there running my own race. Didn't feel all too bad, just really disappointed in my effort and my mistake. Will probably lose a bit of sleep over that one. Considering it was the first lap of my second stint. We'll focus on the next one and try eliminate those one percenters and do better.”
Dean Fiore
Supercars co-driver, #50 SCT Logistics Camaro
“My day was fine. We got a little bit boxed out and caught one wide and one out for a lap, which cost us a fair few positions. But once we settled in, the car was quite strong and over the course of the two stints, it was good. No issues for me. Really good to get the nitty gritty bits out of the way, because we're fully focused on the next round."
Super2 Quoteboard
Elliott Cleary
Super2 driver, #19 Sync Music ZB Commodore
“Not the way we wanted to end the weekend. Qualifying this morning, I felt like I did a decent job. We just sort of ended up on the wrong side of a tenth and was really close. We started 14th and had a pretty good start. I made up a few spots and then someone just came on the track right in front of me, and I couldn't do anything to avoid it. We ended up off the track and picked up quite a bit of damage. The boys did a good job to get it back out there and when we were out there even with damage, we still had good pace so that's promising heading into the next round. It is what it is and we move on to Bathurst in a couple of weeks.”
Cody Gillis
Super2 driver, #9 Bowser Bean ZB Commodore
“Struggled again today. We didn’t have an ideal quali and ended up starting from the rear for the race. I made up quite a few spots even after having a drive through penalty. A big thanks to the crew for the effort on Saturday night, making sure I got back out on track today. Also, a huge thanks to Bowser Bean, Coca Cola and of course Allen’s.”