After driving at speeds approaching 250km/h down the straights, scrapping the side mirror against concrete walls at 180 and jumping the car over curbs at well over 150, the top 15 cars qualified within half a second of each other at Townsville.
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That equates to around one-metre in distance between first and 15th and tells us a couple of things. Firstly, the drivers are incredibly skilful but surely in need of some form of therapy. Secondly, this is the most competitive sport in the country, where after three kilometres of near out-of-control madness, you are just an also ran if you’re more than one metre behind the winner.
Welcome to Brad Jones’ world.
Just make it even more interesting, American billionaire Rodger Penske lured Jones key Driver Engineer combination of Fabian Coulthard and Phil Keens to join his DJR Penske team at the end of last season.
Despite the challenges, Jones said the first half of the year has been successful with two wins and a second from the first seven events.
“With change you always go through a difficult period,” Jones said from his office at BJR HQ in Albury this week.
“But I would describe the first half of the year as successful. Jason in the BOC car had a great start but we really struggled with the freightliner car at the start and getting to know Tim (Slade).
“We both ended up learning a fair bit about each other fairly quickly but now we have been pretty successful. Even after a tough weekend like we had in Townsville where it doesn’t suit us, we were still in the top 15, so we have consistency and results that gives us confidence.”
With only two races left until the teams hit the showcase events of the year – Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and the Gold Coast 600 – Jones is squarely focused on more race wins and putting the team in position to challenge for a championship.
“We have two tracks coming up where we have struggled a bit – Sandown and Gold Coast, but we are working on some things to minimise that,” he said.
“It’s a three-year plan to win a championship, right now we are still getting to know Tim and he’s still getting to know us; my focus is to make sure he finishes the year at worst in the top 10 in the championship, but ideally in the top five and we will need a strong second half of the year to achieve that. You keep getting stronger; that’s what you can then build a championship year on,” Jones said.
There is real momentum in the BJR camp and with brother Kim, Jones has the experience to turn it into on track success. Once known for punching above its weight, other teams as well as the sport’s leading commentators now know that the Brad Jones Racing team is a consistent top 10 performer and the next step is to win a Supercar Championship.
For this weekend though, as the teams head to Queensland raceway for round 8, Brad Jones will just be looking to find that elusive half a second that will put them at the front of the field.