YOUNG GUN: JORDAN BOYS
Young Gun: Jordan Boys – Photo: InSyde Media
An emotional victory at Sandown made all the hard work worth it for Jordan Boys, taking an against the odds victory with Image Racing.
By DAN McCARTHY
“It was pretty emotional, I’m not really much of an emotional person, but deep down that meant a lot, it validated all of the suffering we had gone through for the past two years,” Boys explained.
“As much as it was special on the day, it was on the drive home and the days after when it started to sink in, I thought oh yeah I’m really glad I stuck with this.”
Not coming from an affluent background, Boys hasn’t been blessed with a big budget and in mid-2019 it became a struggle to make it to each event.
“I would say 2019 started even more disappointingly than 2018, in my head we were going to be really competitive straight off the bat and it didn’t quite happen,” Boys told Auto Action.
“It took me a bit longer to get used to that full Erebus style of car.
“I went up to Townsville and didn’t get past the second corner which is always the way when you are qualifying down the back, you are putting yourself in that danger zone.
“If you’d have asked me post Townsville if you were going to be at the next round I would have said probably not because we had a fairly sizeable damage bill.
“I just got really lucky with the people that have supported me, a lot of the companies I get backed by don’t need exposure through the TV that we get, they are just backing me to try and get me to the next stage.”
Convinced the following round at Queensland Raceway would be his last, but Boys made it to the next round at Bathurst. A test day prior to the event and upgraded parts helped everything click, which was demonstrated at The Mountain where he charged from the back to finish seventh.
The best was yet to come where Boys scored a breakthrough pole and win at Sandown before backing it up with another victory on the streets of Newcastle.
Just reward for the successful karter from Albury, who like so many has aims to join the Supercars grid.
“I always wanted to be a racing car driver, even though I followed Formula 1 that was never really something I even looked towards, it was always V8 Supercars that is where I wanted to go, that was always the goal, and still is,” Boys said.
Formula Ford was the first test for Boys as he and his Father ran a small operation competing under the banner of Jordan Boys Motorsport, against the likes of Will Brown and Jayden Ojeda, plus established teams such as Sonic Motor Racing Services.
“We did it as father and son for the most part,” Boys told AA. “We bought a car, ran it and that for me was the most rewarding racing I’ve done to date.
“It was a tough gig working, going home, working on the car, but at the end of it you look back and the people we were racing against and the results we got were really cool.”
Boys finished an impressive third in the national series and planned to make the step into the unofficial third-tier of Supercars racing the V8 Touring Car Series in 2018, but a lack of budget appeared to cement him in Formula Ford.
However, two weeks before the start of the V8 Touring Car season, Boys secured a drive with Terry Wyhoon’s Image Racing squad. However, after a pre-event private test Boys wondered what he had gotten himself into.
“In some ways it was everything I thought it would be and in other ways it was a lot harder to get used to,” Boys said.
“My first couple of laps whilst they were enjoyable I went away from the day saying what have I gotten myself into to some extent.”
Boys won the opening round and scored a number of podiums thereafter, with a round to go he received a call to see if he’d like to step up with the team and fill the Super2 seat left vacant by Renee Gracie.
“I got a phone call saying ‘would you be keen to transfer the rest your budget over to do the rest of Super2?’” Boys recalled.
“In Super2 you are running against 20 of the best drivers that aren’t in Supercars, I thought it was better for me to do that and get beaten pretty soundly because I’d be able to learn a whole lot from it.
“My thinking behind it was that there was more to gain than there was to lose by going there and doing those remaining rounds and I think it was a good decision.
In the final rounds of 2017, Boys impressed by collecting two top 10 finishes, despite this it was followed by a disappointing full-season campaign, finishing 22nd.
“I would sum 2018 up as a lot of ifs and buts,” Boys told AA. “I think we just fell short of what we needed to be competitive budget wise and that meant the rest of the field took a bit step forwards with the quality of their equipment.”
After his breakout season last year, he was offered a test drive of a current-specification Brad Jones Racing Commodore at Winton Raceway where the experience further enhanced his appetite for Supercars.
“It is really cool when you get to drive a main series car, to work with the engineers and the mechanics,” Boys said. “Brad has always been good to me and looks after me wherever he can.
“That was a really good opportunity to go and do some extra laps, learn off some of his guys and I really appreciated it.”
The 2020 season started solidly for Boys finishing fourth in the opening round at Adelaide just behind new teammate Will Brown. Boys believes the 21-year-old will push him forwards when racing resumes.
“It is great to have someone in the team who isn’t happy until they are winning, so far it has been really good working with him, he is a great yard stick,” he told AA.
“Erebus really rate him, they’ve already signed him for next year and it is great for me to go out and focus on trying to beat him and it should put a light on what I can do and help me make the next step.”
Article originally published in Issue 1785 of Auto Action.
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