Super Saturday
Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Jayden Ojeda made a solid start to the weekend in race 1 at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown today.
The wildcard #27 Commodore driver qualified in 25th for race 1, after a challenging qualifying session, struggling to find the car balance he needed to secure that one special lap.
Jayden was busy from the start, keeping clear of trouble and making some strong passes, working his way forward over the initial laps.
Jayden maintained excellent race pace but was fighting amongst a growing bunch of SuperCars, so the team went for an early pit stop to look at an undercut and get Jayden into some cleaner air.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United crew were super slick and completed a two rear tyre change in just seconds, slotting Jayden back into the race in a strong position.
Ojeda continued to race forward, showing great race pace, and was up 11 places into 14th late into the race.
Unfortunately, with a handful of laps to go, Jayden got bumped off track and was pushed back to 18th, eventually classified in 17th position.
“I’m stoked we managed to make great progress today” Ojeda said. “We were making great gains, and working our way up all race, the team were amazing” he added.
“The car seemed to improve throughout the race, even though tyre degradation was making it tough toward the end” Ojeda said. We learnt a lot today which will only help as we prepare for two more races tomorrow”.
“That was fun, time for a cool ice bath and we can come back and do it all again tomorrow” he laughed. “A huge thank you to WAU and all our partners for making this possible.”
Jayden will sport backing from East Coast Lubes and Mobil 1 at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown.
The #27 Holden Commodore will also carry support from Morris, New Age Caravans, Walkinshaw Performance, City Hino, Johnny H Adventures, Metropole, Vantage Freight, Criticool Services, AJM Transport, and UMS.
Two qualifying sessions will set the grid for Race 17 and Race 18 tomorrow, the first of which gets underway at 08:35 local time/09:05 AEST.
