Although it proved a frustrating end to the Penrite Oils Sandown 500 for Jaxon Evans, it provided plenty of learning and continued growth in experience heading to the Bathurst 1000.
Evans is undertaking his first endurance season as a primary driver, which steps up the driving miles he has previously experienced as a co-driver during the last two campaigns.
Joined by the experienced Dean Fiore, Evans was eager to learn from the former Supercars driver and team owner, while the SCT Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 also featured a new livery celebrating the 50th anniversary of his major sponsor.
There was plenty of track time with five practice sessions leading up to qualifying, and this was useful due to Melbourne’s fickle weather as the circuit became extremely treacherous.
Evans and Fiore navigated through these sessions as the SCT Chevrolet proved fast whether it was wet or dry, as 0.6s separated the field on combined practice times.
Qualifying was where Evans took control to qualify 20th, but the margin highlighted the closeness of the field to a maiden Top 10 Shootout berth – just 0.234s.
Maintaining position through the early stages, Evans handed to Fiore, where, despite some early hustle and bustle, he moved forward a few positions.
It was a steady race by the duo when Evans took over to complete the remainder of the race, but a pinched brake at Turn 9 sent the SCT Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the gravel trap, tapping the tyre wall.
When recovered, the Camaro failed to fire and was towed back to the pits, where the Brad Jones Racing crew got to work, getting it back out to complete the race, although multiple laps down.
“It was a disappointing day on my behalf,” Evans said.
“I made a pretty solid start, and the car wasn’t too bad; I felt like we had the ability to move forward at least. Dean (Fiore) did a good job. He was tangled up in a bit of stuff early in his stint, but then managed to get into a rhythm, knuckle down and get his co-driver laps in.
“Unfortunately, when I jumped in, I tried to amp myself up a bit too much and got it all wrong when I got to Dandenong Road (Turn 9) on that first lap. I didn’t do anything crazy different, but I pinched the inside front and fired it into the gravel, then into the wall.
“I was pretty gutted about that. It’s not something I’d often do, but these things happen. To make things worse, when I was recovered, the car wouldn’t fire. I had to be towed back to the pits and until my crew could jump in to do their thing.
“It was a frustrating day overall, finishing six laps off the lead.
“But having more laps under the belt is a positive. I feel like I’ve nailed most of my race starts, and I felt pretty racy in that opening stint.
“It wasn’t all bad, I think in the wet weather we showed our strong pace and it’s not often we get to drive on the new rain tyres. It’s all good learning, and hopefully, it’s information I can store as well as build on going to Bathurst.”
Despite the result being one not to be desired, Evans continued learning and building his experience in Gen3 machinery ahead of his third Bathurst 1000 next month.
Header Image: Race Project (Supplied)
