This time last year new Brad Jones Racing recruit Tim Slade had the motorsport world talking when he was fastest at the combined Supercar team’s pre-season test day at Winton Motor Raceway.
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The team then struggled to find pace in the first few races of the year.
Team owner Brad Jones has his feet firmly on the ground this year, as all the Supercar teams head to Sydney Motorsport Park next Tuesday for the 2017 test day.
“We proved that Tim’s times last year were no fluke when we went back in May for the races at Winton – he won both of them,” Jones said at the launch of Slade’s BJR Freightliner Commodore.
“But we are a bit more conscious now that regardless of what happens at the test, Adelaide – where the season opener is held in two weeks’ time, is a unique place that has different characteristics.”
Whilst Slade had an impressive first year with the team, finishing well inside the top ten and winning two races, he had a slow start to the season as he acclimatised to the car and the BJR way of doing things.
There is now a feeling of quiet confidence around the team’s Albury workshop, with the self-belief that with a full year under his belt and a genuine hunger for success, Slade will be a contender this year.
Whist the Freightliner side of the garage has some stability, there are some real challenges for the other side with new driver Nick Percat replacing long time BJR steerer Jason Bright.
Percat will run in Clipsal colours for the Adelaide event, which he won last year.
“We are in a much better position to get Nick comfortable in the car and up to genuine speed fairly quickly, having been through the process with Tim last year,” Jones said.
“When Tim came out so quick in pre-season testing, we probably underestimated the work needed, but we are on top of it this year with Nick.”
The other big change for 2017 is a new tyre construction from Dunlop.
The tyres are a critical component of a race car and teams will need to get on top of the change quickly or get left behind.
It’s something Jones is looking to take advantage of.
“For us, it’s going to be about working out what we can do with the front suspension,” he said.
“Hopefully we are somewhere close and then having the ability to have plenty of adjustment as we go through trial and error to find the pace.
“It’s tight at the top anyway and until we get to Sydney next week we don’t know what the tyre is going to do, but I’m hopeful that we will be thereabouts.”
All Supercar teams will be at the test day next Tuesday, before the season-opening Clipsal 500 event in Adelaide from March 3-5.
