Ojeda the 6 Hour Master
Jayden Ojeda has done it again, history has been made at the 2024 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour, with Jayden Ojeda and Simon Hodges becoming the first drivers ever to go back-to-back in this classic endurance race.
Joined by experienced driver George Miedecke for this year’s Bathurst 6 Hour race, Ojeda and Hodges managed to replicate last year’s victory thanks to brilliant strategy and smart racing.
Adding to the historic edition of the race, less than one and a half seconds separated the top three cars, making it the closest finish ever in 6 Hour history, the closest 1-2 and 1-2-3 finish in the history of the race.
Jayden made a pass for the lead in the remaining 30 minutes of the race. It’s the second year in a row the 24-year-old Jayden from Western Sydney has had to charge from behind to win the Production Car classic.
The Secure Wealth Advisers BMW M4 teams’ decision to complete their compulsory pit stops early put them in a strong position towards the back half of the race, which saw Ojeda gain the lead from Davison just inside the final 30 minutes down conrod straight.
The production car enduro delivered another enthralling race with tense and dramatic final laps, and safety cars throughout the day. The battle for outright and Class X Ultimate Performance came down to a three-way contest between Davison, Ojeda and Randle.
Jayden had the pace for the last hour, whilst managing a delaminating rear, once claiming the lead Ojeda held his nerve closely and navigated his way past several backmarkers and produced a faultless drive to claim the historic victory.
Jayden held his nerve to win a thrilling last lap duel by 1.2s over the BMW M2 of Thomas Randle which just held out the Will Davison BMW by 0.24s for second.
“Wow that was a challenge, during the 2nd last stint I thought we were finished we were running 4th at the time, with the cars in front having taken tyres on the previous pitstop our pace at that point of the race was not competitive. So, we opted to lose some track position and take the time to fit a front tyre on the last pitstop and that decision gave us the car pace to win the race.”
“Our team was fantastic all day, replacing a differential till 2am on Sunday morning then showing up at the track with no complaints and putting in a faultless performance on Sunday was epic.”
Jayden was quick to acknowledge the pace of the Lynton BMW post-race.
“I don’t think we had the quickest car like we did last year when it came to race pace, but we just played the race really well. It was unfortunate for Beric, Tim, and Will that they had the problems they had.” he said.
Car owner Simon Hodges was once again full of praise for Ojeda, who diced his way through traffic in the second half of the race to put the Secure Wealth Advisers BMW M4 into a position to challenge for the win.
“He’s shown with all his GT work that he’s not just a good driver, he’s a world-class driver. He’s helped us develop this car over the past three to four years and he deserves all of the accolades that he gets”.
With the Bathurst 6 Hour crown successfully defended, attention will now turn to whether Hodges and Ojeda can claim an unprecedented third consecutive 6 Hour victory in 2025, something the young Sydneysider is keen to accomplish.
“It only makes sense; I think it would be unfortunate if we didn’t go for the three-peat.”
“A huge thank you to Simon Hodges and George Miedecke and our team at Aaron Grech Motorsport, and my partners City Hino, Johnny H, AJM Transport, That Patio Guy, Atkinson Pontifex for their continued support.” he added.
