Cameron honoured by Young Gun award

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 23 November 2024

Aaron Cameron is honoured to be the latest to receive the Supercars Young Gun award as his one shot at Super2 paid off.

After shooting into title contention with a late-season flourish and finishing second in a tense Super2 title showdown with Zach Bates and Kai Allen, Cameron was voted as the 2024 Supercars Young Gun Award winner for 2024 at the recent Supercars Gala Awards.

To receive such recognition thrilled the 22-year-old, who is the second oldest Young Gun award winner since 2015 with only Matt McLean (25) ahead.

With the likes of Supercars winners Marcos Ambrose, Rick Kelly, Mark Winterbottom, Warren Luff, James Courtney, Chaz Mostert, Scott Pye, Scott McLaughlin, Todd Hazelwood, Cam Waters, Will Brown and Matt Payne all recent winners, Cameron was honoured.

“Option one was to win the Super2 title, that would have been great. But consolation prize second place and the Supercars Young Gun award does not get much better,” Cameron told AUTO ACTION.

“There are some really distinguished people on the list of winners. It is great to get some recognition for such a great year with the Kelly Racing team.

“We did some really fun stuff over the year and made some lifelong friends.

“To be recognised by the media and the other teams and drivers will stay with me and the Kelly Racing team for a long time to come.”

Whilst Cameron would have loved to have won the title, he still feels he and Kelly Racing have smashed all expectations.

He felt the difference between trips to Adelaide when he finished ninth and 10th in just his third event last year to fight for victory in 2024 speaks volumes.

“Before Bathurst we wanted to be in the top three and then to be a real title contender was really cool,” he said.

“The goal was top five in the series and a few podiums so to get two wins and poles at different tracks and really find something in that car was incredible.

“At the start of the season we were just finishing and chasing good results so to come back towards the end so strong with really good speed was the icing on the cake.

“We did not know exactly what our car would be like at Adelaide because I was not that great the year before.

“We went pretty basic in terms of setting up the car but to transfer from what we learnt from Bathurst at Adelaide was a surprise.

“I told some people we were going to be good but I did not actually know we were going to be there.

“All weekend the car was great and had great pace especially with the WAU drivers that were so fast last year.

“That shows how far we have come since last year.”

Importantly Cameron also feels the campaign has significantly boosted his profile, having also done the enduros with BRT.

Although he has been a S5000 champion and TCR star, he knew he had to make his one crack at Super2 count and did.

Despite the pressure, Cameron said his aim was to simply enjoy the challenge.

“We have been chipping away at it having a lot of fun with GRM and Valvoline in TCR and S5000,” he said.

“But to get the Super2 shot was really cool and something I thought was fading away pretty quickly considering the drivers were a couple of years younger.

“That is what put us in a good spot early on. Although our car pace was not the best, we just kept finishing.

“For me this year was all about just enjoying it. I had a good idea it would be a one year shot so there was no point stressing about it with Kelly Racing and Mason.”

Image: Mark Horsburgh

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Cameron honoured by Young Gun award

“Option one was to win the Super2 title, that would have been great. But consolation prize second place and the Supercars Young Gun award does not get much better,” Cameron told AUTO ACTION.

He felt the difference between trips to Adelaide when he finished ninth and 10th in just his third event last year to fight for victory in 2024 speaks volumes.

“We did not know exactly what our car would be like at Adelaide because I was not that great the year before.

Importantly Cameron also feels the campaign has significantly boosted his profile, having also done the enduros with BRT.

“We have been chipping away at it having a lot of fun with GRM and Valvoline in TCR and S5000,” he said.

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