Coming off of one of her most successful Super3 rounds, Kiwi-raised Madeline Stewart still admits there is plenty of work left in the tank to maximise the potential from her Brad Jones Racing-prepared Commodore VE II.
Stewart claimed a pair of fourths across both races at Sydney Motorsport Park, the first event which had both the Super2/3 grids merged and the inaugural Supercars round to have support categories back on the agenda post the coronavirus-induced season suspension.
The result meant the series sophomore finished third for the weekend.
“Last weekend’s event was definitely a different experience for me, not having fans at the track and not having the support of friends and family while I was racing was very strange,” Stewart told Velocity News.
“But just being able to get in the car and race was great.
“Overall, we had a promising start to the season, thanks to Ben and the awesome crew at BJR we had a very strong qualifying car and consistent race pace.”
The event was headlined by a unique day/night transition race on the Saturday as the curtain-raiser for the opening Supercars event.
Qualifying fourth, a sluggish start had Stewart picking her way through the backmarkers for most of the race to eventually recover to her starting position at the chequered flag.
The final race of the weekend played out along similar lines with the 19-year-old coming out of the round aware of areas that require improvement if she is to have a more complete round.
“Being able to race at night was a lot of fun and I also enjoyed the longer length of the races with the Super 2 format,” added Stewart.
“The main area that I need to work on would be my starts, I’m hoping as we progress through the season I can improve on these as this will really help with track position during the races.
“As the next round of the season is still unknown, I can only hope to be back in my Boss Air Suspension Super3 car again soon.”
The current carousel of the Supercars calendar has added plenty of emphasis of Stewart’s performances as the 2020 season is likely to be condensed even further.
The category has been confirmed it will not visit Darwin for the next two Supercar rounds with Townsville primed as the next possible location support classes can return to the race programme.
Super3 is slated to compete at Bathurst in October while the season-finale from Sydney Motorsport Park on December 12-13 remains the only other event pencilled in on the current calendar.