SCT Motorsport’s Jaxon Evans has enjoyed a busy few weeks since the last Repco Supercars Championship round at Albert Park and he believes this will be an advantage ahead of the category’s first trip to Taupo International Motorsport Park.
A large contingent of friends and family will be supporting Evans at the event as he enters the round, having already completed laps there post-Grand Prix in what was his first experience of Taupo.
This kicked off a busy period where Evans enjoyed a run in an Arise Racing GT Ferrari at Phillip Island, completed laps of Sepang in a Porsche and added more miles in the SCT Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Queensland Raceway completing his first Supercars Rookie Test.
Adding to this, Evans returned to the Ferrari to contest the opening round of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia at Phillip Island finishing second in Race 1 alongside Elliott Schutte in the 296 GT3’s Australian debut. This provides a great lead into the event at Taupo.
The Rookie Test proved extremely beneficial for both Evans and the team as he continues to get up to speed during the early stages of his Supercars career.
Arriving at Taupo is a level playing field given the lack of data and knowledge throughout the field, but also potential high tyre degradation may add further challenges.
Taupo will host two 200km races at 60 laps each on the Dunlop soft tyre compound that is sure to mix up the strategy and, possibly, the results.
The ITM Taupo Super400 is set to take place on April 19-21.
QUOTES
Jaxon Evans
#11 SCT Motorsport, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
On Taupo
“I’ve never raced at Taupo, so I thought it would be a good idea to at least learn how the circuit goes and the characteristics of it prior to arriving there for our single 90-minute practice session.
“It was an eye-opener for sure, it was pretty interesting and it’s a fun circuit, but definitely I learnt a lot while finding it beneficial.
“The biggest thing is the surface changes. There are some very high grip parts of the circuit that have been resurfaced and also a lot of the track in its original state, so that side of things will be pretty interesting in managing tyre degradation. There are also some interesting corners on how you approach and the appropriate lines, so I think we’ll definitely have our work cut out for us.
“It’s very tight, there probably isn’t a lot of outright passing opportunities, but at the same time I think the tyre deg will come into providing more of a racy feel especially in strategy. I think there will be an emphasis in qualifying and at least for the first portion of the race track position will be key.”
On being constantly driving
“I’ve tried to fill up my calendar as much as I can and it has certainly been a busy time between the Grand Prix and Taupo.
“There was a trip to Sepang where I did some testing for Porsche, a test and a race in the Ferrari, and a Rookie Day in the Supercar, so I think any seat time is good just to try to keep your eye in. I know they’re completely different cars, but for me I feel like when I’m on the track driving it’s the best thing I can do for my preparation to be race fit.”
On the Rookie Test
“It definitely felt like I made some gains. It was super beneficial not only for myself, but I think for the team as we’ve been struggling, so it was good to get some testing done. It was awesome to get some test items over the line and either cross them off or give them the tick of approval before we get to a race weekend, so we’re not learning on the fly at an event.
“In terms of driving it was definitely beneficial for me. I got the opportunity to fine tune and hone in on some of the skills required to drive a Supercars fast. Little technique things are pretty hard to fix up on the fly.
“I was very happy with how the day went and it was a massive effort from everyone at Brad Jones Racing to make sure we had a big crew on site to ensure we could get all the changes we wanted done. It’s then a big turnaround to get the car ready to fly to New Zealand.
Expectations for Taupo
“We’re going to continue to improve and I’m confident even without the rookie test it would have been a step forward, but now having done that running it will be better. Fingers crossed I can perform in front of the home crowd and make everyone proud.
“The Kiwis are super passionate and I know they’ve been crying out loud to get Supercars back. With the way Taupo is sold out, the Kiwi fans are 100 percent behind the event and I think it will be a great success.“