Jayden Ojeda believes he is taking the right steps forward as he targets a place in the Supercars Finals, and this weekend’s Perth Super 400 looms as a critical moment in that push.
The PremiAir Racing rookie has finished 11th or better across the last four events, steadily cutting the deficit to the top 10 as the Finals window begins to narrow. Currently sitting 12th in the championship standings, 137 points behind 10th-placed Jack Le Brocq, Ojeda knows that consistent results at Wanneroo Raceway are essential.
“Yeah, a little bit,” Ojeda said when asked if he feels he is closing the gap to the top performers. “Each day is its own challenge, so it’s always hard to say. Like, one day you can obviously be right inside the 10, and the next day you’re sort of struggling. But I feel like, on average, our bad days seem to be around 13th, which is positive, and our good days are running inside the top eight.”
The Sydney-born driver, who turns 27 this Friday, was thrown into the deep end when he replaced Richie Stanaway for the final two rounds of 2025, and has since built a strong working relationship with engineer Andrew Gilliam to establish himself as a genuine Finals contender.
Per Supercars data analyst Scott Sinclair, Ojeda has overtaken more cars than anyone this season, 80 in total, and ranks third for attacking ability. However, Le Brocq remains the one driver he is yet to crack, with just one successful overtake from five attempts.
Ojeda is confident the team is building momentum, and pointed to a recent rookie day for teammate Declan Fraser as a boost for the entire PremiAir operation heading into Perth.
“I think we learned some things from Declan’s rookie day just after Townsville, which was super positive,” he said. “There’s always a bit of risk in putting new items into the car, but I think we’re pretty confident in what we learned at that test day, and we’ll roll out with that in Perth.”
The traditional Super 440 format at Perth with Friday practice sessions before Saturday qualifying also suits Ojeda’s preference for preparation time, following back-to-back rounds in Darwin and Townsville that featured Friday racing.
“It’s nice to have the Friday practice and at least get to sleep on it for once,” he said. “It’ll be nice to sit down and sift through some data on Friday night and go into Saturday with some clear direction as opposed to just feeling like you’ve gotta spin the bottle before you go into the session. And for sure as a rookie as well, having the opportunity to sleep on it before qualifying is a good thing.”
With two sprint rounds and two enduro rounds still to come before the Finals cut, Ojeda is keeping his focus on building the foundation.
“It’s no secret that we want to get a spot in the top 10, but we need to get some stronger results than just breaking into the top 10 to completely lock that optimism in. First things first, it’s just about having a few solid rounds.”
The Perth Super 400 is underway this weekend at Wanneroo Raceway.
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