IN a rough old start to 2024 for Brad Jones Racing, one bright spot has been the emergence of its SCT entry driven by Supercars rookie Jaxon Evans.
After back-to-back seasons of effectively finishing last in the championship, the SCT Camaro has become more a factor with Evans aboard and it’s perhaps made for a livelier intra-team dynamic.
At two of the past three rounds, Evans has been second-best among the BJR quartet, only behind Andre Heimgartner.
That was underpinned by a 10th place finish in the wet at Taupō, and 11th in Race 2 of last weekend’s Darwin Triple Crown.
Bryce Fullwood had started the season best of the BJR bunch at the Bathurst 500, but thereafter the best two non-Heimgartner results have been Evans’ aforementioned 10th and 11th.
For the long-time Porsche star, Darwin was a tale of two halves.
Evans qualified 21st for Race 1 and was still 21st at the end of 48 laps, copping a penalty along the way for spinning Cooper Murray.
The following day, he started 16th and finished 11th.
“Felt like we had a pretty solid race,” he said.
“The guys did a great job in the pitstop, we went for four tyres and had to pass a couple cars.
“Unfortunately couldn’t quite make the most of it and get past the #26 (Richie Stanaway) in front of us for a top 10 finish…
“It’s frustrating not to be in the top 10, but that’s just part of it. I think it was a good step forward and things are trending in the right direction. So a big thanks to the team for the turnaround.”
Life hasn’t slowed down since for Evans, catching a red-eye flight back to Brisbane, then heading to Japan via Sydney to contest this weekend’s GT World Challenge Asia round at Mount Fuji with Porsche squad Phantom Global Racing.
It’s part of a run of four successive race weekends for the 27-year-old.
