A full day of testing at The Bend Motorsport Park has given Jayden Ojeda the answers he needed and potentially unlocked a level of performance that could prove decisive in his push for the Supercars Finals.
Ojeda endured a puzzling Perth weekend. After a string of top 10 results that had dragged him into serious Finals contention, the 27-year-old found himself 20th and 18th in the first two Perth races, his worst results since April. The team was left scratching their heads. Then on Sunday, after “turning the car upside down,” Ojeda stormed from 20th to eighth in the finale, slashing his Finals deficit from 166 points to 132.
The dramatic turnaround raised an obvious question: what happened? The test day at The Bend answered it.
“We couldn’t work out why we made the big step forward from Saturday to Sunday while we were in Perth, but we were able to get an answer at The Bend,” Ojeda explained. “We made a heap of progress, and we got answers to questions that we had coming out of Perth.”
Crucially, learnings from teammate Declan Fraser’s Ipswich rookie day in July provided a head start. “Declan had his test day before Perth, and some of those learnings actually helped us out with our rookie day as well,” Ojeda said. “It gave us a start on where we could begin our day, and then we went from there and were able to validate a few things which should help us out from Ipswich.”
The test also served a dual purpose, giving Enduro Cup co-driver David Russell 10 laps at The Bend’s West Circuit, the same layout that will host the AirTouch 500 in September. Russell, a veteran of 16 Bathurst starts who has been maintaining his race fitness in Carrera Cup, joins Ojeda in the #31 Chevrolet for the long-distance races.
“It was great to get D-Russ some laps too,” said Ojeda. “It was only 10 laps, so not much to learn but a little head start for when we go back there in a month’s time.”
The pairing shapes as a potent Enduro Cup combination. PremiAir Racing has traditionally been strong at Bathurst; David Russell and James Golding crossed the line first last year before a post-race penalty dropped them to third, while Ojeda himself led the most laps alongside Ryan Wood before a late engine failure. That near-miss has only sharpened the team’s hunger.
“I wouldn’t say it’s wounds to heal at Bathurst, but I feel we definitely want to go back there and be right in the hunt again,” Ojeda said.
First things first, though. With Ipswich, The Bend and Bathurst all to come, the next three rounds are critical for his Finals hopes.
“This test day could definitely help us into the 10, but it’s only one test, and we’ve now got to back that up with results.”
On-track action at the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440 begins Friday, August 21.
For updates throughout the Ipswich 440, make sure you keep an eye on the PremiAir Racing Race Hub, which will be updated across the race weekend with the latest from Queensland Raceway: https://premiairracing.com/supercars/round9/