Evans boosted by breakthrough on home soil
Jaxon Evans marked his first race on home soil in seven years with a breakthrough result at Taupo.
On a slippery Saturday, Evans stayed out of trouble to record a maiden top 10 finish in Supercars.
His previous best result was 18th achieved four times and in the three previous races.
The #10 BJR driver rose from 17th to 10th in the wet and wild race and hopes it can be a turning point.
“It was wet, very wet, so it was pretty wild, but I had a lot of fun,” Evans reflected on the race.
“Discovering what it’s like to drive one of these cars in a wet race and the team did a great job with stops and found ourselves in P10.
“So pretty happy to move forward and finish inside the top 10 for the first time in Supercars land and hopefully it’s a step forward.”
Evans could not quite match those heights on Sunday, qualifying 21st before rising to 14th.
This is why Evans is searching for more speed over one lap as he feels like he is trying to “qualify a race car.”
“At the moment it feels like we’re trying to qualify a race car,” he said.
“We are just not getting something right whether that is tyre pressure or how we have the car balance heading into qualifying.
“On Sunday I felt like we didn’t have the tyre pressure in the right window and these things prove to be quite sensitive in this area, which makes it all that bit harder.
“Just 0.9s covered the field on Sunday and a couple of driver mistakes on my behalf didn’t help, I lost a fair chunk of time compared to Andre (Heimgartner), so we could have been closer to the top 10 again.
“There are still some things that need work and it just makes qualifying just that little more frustrating as if we start further up, we can race towards the top 10.”
Being a proud Kiwi, Evans also joined the growing chorus to have a Kiwi doubleheader in the future.
“I’d love to see a Supercars doubleheader in New Zealand,” said Evans.
“If we’re making the trip for one event why not make a doubleheader out of it?
“The actual event as a whole was really cool. Kiwis love their motorsport and everyone behind the scenes at Taupo put on a great event alongside those from Supercars.
“There are some cool tracks that we could race at. Whether they decide on somewhere close to Taupo or in the South Island, it’d be cool and I really hope they keep pushing for something like that in the future.”
Taupo Super400 schedule (all times AEST)
Friday, April 19
Practice: 1: C. Mostert 1:26.4937 2: M. Payne +0.0318 3: W. Davison +0.0508
Saturday, April 20
Qualifying Race 7: 1: M. Payne 1:27.9684 2: A. De Pasquale +0.0940 3: C. Mostert +0.1669
Top 10 Shootout: 1: C. Waters 1:34.7415 2: W. Brown +0.5011 3: A. Heimgartner +0.5374
Race 7 (60 laps): 1: A. Heimgartner 2: W. Davison +1.1012 3: A. De Pasquale +2.5641
Sunday, April 21
Qualifying Race 8: 1: A. De Pasquale 2: C. Mostert +0.0272 3: W. Brown +0.0292
Top 10 Shootout: 1: M. Payne 1:26.8173 2: B. Feeney +0.0126 3: B. Kostecki +0.0306
Race 8 (60 laps): 1: W. Brown 2: B. Feeney +3.3585 3: A. De Pasquale +14.2612
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Podcast: We’re going to Taupo… Tow Paw… Whatever. Supercars is back!
After a break that feels like months, the Supercars Championship is back and headed across the ditch to Taupo in the middle of the North Island. And yes, Brodie Kostecki will be there! As will the rain.
Somehow, the rain will also be in China for F1’s return to 中国. Philip Island was stunning on the weekend, just gone, if a little cold, but we chatted about whether Supercars should return to the land of penguins.
Plus, there’s more… all the news in the way only the Auto Action RevLimiter can deliver.
Listen to our latest episode on your podcast app of choice or here
