Jaxon Evans is prepared and ready for his maiden Supercars Championship endurance event as a full-time driver.
Having paired up with Jack Smith for the previous two endurance campaigns, the New Zealander is now the lead driver in the SCT Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Joining Evans for the enduros will be the vastly experienced Dean Fiore, who has six Bathurst 1000 top-10 finishes to his name.
Evans hopes Fiore’s experience will be advantageous both on and off track. Fiore’s time as a team owner in Supercars provides a unique perspective for Evans to learn from during their endurance campaign.
A two-day pre-endurance event test occurred at Winton, during which Evans and Fiore completed pit stop routines, including driver changes. It proved a successful test for the pairing and has Evans confident about Sandown.
“Pre-enduro test was really good at Winton,” said Evans.
“It was across two days or us in the Brad Jones Racing camp, so it was awesome to get through a bunch of test items while also getting Dean (Fiore) up to speed and comfortable in the car.
“We’re pretty seamless with our driver changes now, no seat insert required is always a bonus, but I think everything went the way we wanted it to and we’ve got a good base moving into Sandown.
“Working with Dean has been really good. He’s obviously a driver with a lot of experience not only as a co-driver, but as one who has been in the main game and a team owner.
“I’m learning a lot from him both on and off the track, which is always nice. It’s always good to have a second opinion on certain changes.
“It’s been a benefit having him alongside me and I think it’s a good fit.”
Evans believes tyre degradation will be the deciding factor in gaining a result at Sandown in what will be his second start after contesting its return to the calendar last year.
Although changes to the Gen3 platform have been minimal since its endurance debut last year, the aerodynamic update will be important to factor arriving at a circuit like Sandown.
“The differences in Gen3 compared to last year is the aero update that came into effect at the beginning of this year,” he said
“Certain characteristics of the car will be slightly different, but the main factor will still be tyre degradation and managing this.
“I think the car will be somewhat different, but it’s something everyone will have to try and get on top of as quickly as possible.
“I’m confident we’ve learnt a lot at those last two test days and even though there is plenty more to do, I’m pretty happy with the preparation.”
Three practice sessions for the 60th anniversary Sandown 500 take place on Friday, before two further practices, qualifying, and the Top 10 Shootout on Saturday.
The 2024 Sandown 500 begins at 4.05 pm NZST on Sunday.
“There’s a lot of variables now when it comes to the enduros and the crew have been on it in the pit stops, so it’s a real team effort,” Evans concluded.
“The Sandown 500 is not an easy one to win, but it’s certainly not to be taken as preparation for Bathurst.
“We’ll go there, do the best we can and see where we finish up.”
