Ojeda scores Mercedes Asian Le Mans drive

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: November 21, 2023

Jayden Ojeda will be heading overseas after receiving a call-up from Craft Bamboo Racing in this summer’s Asian Le Mans Series.

Ojeda has been recruited by the Hong Kong and British team for the 2023/24 season which begins with a four-hour race at Sepang on December 2-3, a week after the GT World Challenge Australia finale.

The 24-year-old Sydneysider, who has four Bathurst 1000 starts and broke through with a top 10 alongside Jack Le Brocq this year, will race alongside 2023 GT World Challenge Asia drivers champion Anthony Liu and Jules Gounon in the team’s sole Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO entry in the endurance series.

The call-up followed a successful test in one of the squad’s Mercedes AMG GT3 at Sepang International Circuit in September and impressing at the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Young Driver Test at Valencia earlier this month.

Jayden Ojeda rolls out of pit lane in the Craft Bamboo Racing machine at Sepang.

This drive is an opportunity Ojeda credited to Craft Bamboo engineer Matt Harvey for, with the pair having also worked together at Volante Rosso Motorsport throughout 2023 in Australia.

“It’s amazing to have the opportunity to race with such a renowned team like Craft Bamboo Racing on the world stage,” said Ojeda.

“I’m really looking forward to working with the team and Anthony and Jules.

“I think we have a really strong team. Anthony is coming off the back of winning the GTWC Asia drivers championship, and Jules is arguably one of the most in-form GT drivers on the planet right now. He will be a great mentor for me to learn from.

“A massive thank you to Matt Harvey, Josh Hunt and Chris Papadopolus from Volante Rosso, for their belief in me, which led to the test earlier this year and, ultimately, this opportunity.”

Jamie Whincup and Jayden Ojeda go side by side into turn two fighting for the GT World Challenge lead as Michael Sheargold spins out. Image: Daniel Kalisz Photographer

Ojeda was thrilled to be on the Mercedes microscope testing in Spain and believes it was a major part of his journey to the Asian Le Mans Series as he was really happy with his performance.

“We had a great few days of testing over Spain,” Ojeda continued.

“It was an awesome experience to get the chance to pit myself against some of the best young drivers from around the world.

“I was really happy with the pace I showed.”

Ojeda’s rise in the GT ranks has been a rapid one given he had never steered a GT car before May this year.

But in that time he has turned heads by winning the Bathurst 6 Hour and taking GT World Challenge Australia poles at Phillip Island, Sydney Motorsport Park and Queensland Raceway. The biggest highlight was GT victory at Phillip Island.

Darryl O’Young, Director of Craft-Bamboo Racing believes Ojeda can be a “strong asset”.

The colourful Craft Bamboo Racing Mercedes with Jayden Ojeda behind the wheel.

“We are really excited to have Jayden join the team for our Asian Lemans Series campaign,” he said.

“We have seen his impressive speed in the AMG over the past season, and we also had a test with Jayden a couple of months ago.

“He did a perfect job and he’s easy to work with, so we feel he will be a strong asset to the team.”

Ojeda will wrap up his GT World Challenge Australia campaign at Adelaide this weekend before going to Malaysia.

Following the Sepang opener, the series takes a two-month break before a UAE double header at Dubai and Yas Marina on February 4 and 10-11 respectively.

Main image: Gruppe C Photography

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION or subscribe HERE

On this week’s Auto Action RevLimiter, we ramble on about Supercars. Why the finances don’t need a boost! What’s wrong with the calendar! Plus more!

Listen to our latest episode on your podcast app of choice or here

Recent Stories

array ( 0 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 5191, 'name' => 'GT World Challenge', 'slug' => 'gt-world-challenge', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 5191, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 659, 'count' => 29, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 5191, 'category_count' => 29, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'GT World Challenge', 'category_nicename' => 'gt-world-challenge', 'category_parent' => 659, )), 1 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 660, 'name' => 'International', 'slug' => 'international', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 660, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 0, 'count' => 2620, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 660, 'category_count' => 2620, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'International', 'category_nicename' => 'international', 'category_parent' => 0, )), 2 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 11, 'name' => 'Latest News', 'slug' => 'latest-news', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 11, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 0, 'count' => 13479, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 11, 'category_count' => 13479, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'Latest News', 'category_nicename' => 'latest-news', 'category_parent' => 0, )), 3 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 2029, 'name' => 'ZZZ-Email', 'slug' => 'email', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 2029, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 2031, 'count' => 4376, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 2029, 'category_count' => 4376, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-Email', 'category_nicename' => 'email', 'category_parent' => 2031, )), 4 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 2031, 'name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds', 'slug' => 'zzz-rssfeeds', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 2031, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 0, 'count' => 3775, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 2031, 'category_count' => 3775, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds', 'category_nicename' => 'zzz-rssfeeds', 'category_parent' => 0, )), )