“A dream come true,” is how Southland racing driver Jordan Michels described his impressive debut at the wheel of a Supercar in the Dunlop Super3 Series races at Sandown International Motor Raceway in Melbourne last weekend.
Michels, who celebrated his 25th birthday on the Monday of race week raced to two sixth placings in the weekend’s races. Conditions were at times quite tricky with plenty of carnage resulting from several incidents in both races.
However, Michels, the New Zealand Formula 1600 Champion in 2019, emerged largely unscathed in the races moving up from a tenth and eleventh qualifying spot to climb to sixth in each race.
Michels was at the wheel of an ex-Shane Van Gisbergen, Image Racing FG Falcon Supercar. Image Racing is the Erebus Motorsport Academy Team.
While happy with sixth place in each race Michels also said there was “a little bit of what could have been with higher qualifying spots although on the other side of the coin it could have been a lot worse”, had he been caught up in the carnage.
Michels was the least experienced driver in the Super3 field and apart from an outing in a Formula Ford at the circuit the previous weekend he was new to the track. While the Formula Ford outing was valuable from the aspect of becoming familiar with the venue, he soon discovered that the Formula Ford and Supercar were different beasts.
“You don’t touch the kerbs in the Formula Ford whereas you do attack them in the V8,” he said.
Michels was completely overwhelmed by the support he received while across the Tasman.
“The team was welcoming and I was well looked after, they went above and beyond. I had huge support from my sponsors and Team Michels members and the messages of support I received over the weekend were incredible.
“One bloke from Southland who had lived in Australia for many years who still reads the Southland Times online saw I was racing and decided to come out and support me. He waited for hours to meet me and wish me well.
“It was definitely a dream come true to come here and secure two strong results. It was very successful. It was great to have my parents with me as they have sacrificed a lot to help me do well. I left Sandown itchy and thirsty for more.”
Michels hopes to race in the Super3 Series races supporting the Bathurst 1000 later this year in October.
Main image: James Smith
