It began at the season’s first event in Adelaide - BJR teammates Tim Slade and Nick Percat crashed into each other in race one, then, Percat hit the wall on the first lap of race two.

The next event on the calendar was the Melbourne Grand Prix, where Percat’s car was destroyed after his brakes failed at 250km/h.

In Tasmania, all three BJR cars were badly damaged in a huge accident that took out half the field.

Looking for a fresh start, Jones was hopeful that the endurance races would be a new beginning, only to see his Cool Drive car involved in one the sport’s biggest hits after being punted off the back straight at Sandown at 260km/h.

The team arrived at Bathurst with dogged determination to win.

In the first 15 minutes of the opening practice session, Slade’s car was in the wall after he lost the rear at the top of Mount Panorama.

Then came race day, and with six laps to go in the biggest race in the nation, Percat was third.

A podium finish at the Bathurst 1000 would go a long way to salvaging something from a horror year.

It wasn’t to be; with four laps to go Percat locked a front brake at the end of conrod straight, destroying the front right tyre – he didn’t finish the race.

As the team heads to the Gold Coast this weekend, Jones and BJR’s 60 team members show a resilience and determination to win that beggars belief.

There is no, “as long as we are competitive” sentiment.

“It was tough. To be P3 with six to go and have it slip away is difficult,” Jones said.

“We got home and spent a week working through what happened, and chipped away at getting ourselves back up for this weekend.”

Jones admitted seeing the positives is an important part of the process.

“We are very realistic when we analyse our performances; there’s no point kidding yourself,” he said.

“Bathurst was very positive in many respects. We had very fast cars and made great strategy calls all day.

Jones has a optimistic mind set leading into the last three events of the year.

“We’ve made a few significant steps this year, when we have had a bad day we have managed it well, it’s nowhere near as bad as it was in the was in the past,” he said.

“I think we will finish on a high and get some podiums.

“If we start in the top ten we’re in for a good weekend.

“The cars were in good condition after Bathurst, so we haven’t had to waste energy in rebuilds.”

The first practice session is on Friday, with 102 lap races on Saturday and Sunday.