Ojeda Looks Forward from Townsville
Jayden Ojeda was happy with two consistent weekends in the Dunlop Super2 Series after the back to back Townsville race weekends in July.
The MWM JAYCO Nissan Altima driver ultimately left Townsville with two second placings and two third placings, and is now third in the series, having been sixth before the fortnight of racing in North Queensland.
“The past two weeks, we’ve been on the pace, haven’t finished outside the top three, so in terms of consistency, we’re definitely there,” said Ojeda. “Ultimately, a very strong weekend for us, we just need to get a little bit more out of the car and a bit more out of me as well” he added.
Jayden was initially classified as the victor in Race 1 of Round 3, which ended early due to carnage at Turn 3, but that was later revised with Jayden reclassified into position 2. Jayden was initially leading by 4.7s when the race was neutralised with several restarts required.
For Jayden, achieving his first overall podium positions of the season consolidated his standing as a title hopeful.
“I really enjoyed getting back racing again after a 5 month break since the first round, and it was made even better by getting to race twice in 2 weeks. It’s just about putting that last little bit of effort in, both for myself and the team, to get the race wins.”
Being the only Sydney resident in either of the Repco Supercars Championship or Super2, it was an unconventional lead up to the event as Jayden had to flee Sydney a couple weeks earlier than he had planned to escape the lockdown.
Jayden remains on the road, away from his native Sydney, navigating a maze of lockdowns to ensure he is ready for the restart of the season. He has not been home since June, on his way to the two rounds held in Townsville and expects that will be the case for some time yet.
Ojeda had in fact flown up to the Sunshine State two weeks prior to the first of those events, only to end up in a South East Queensland lockdown before eventually making it to North Queensland.
Jayden has had to stay in South East Queensland for the time being, initially in anticipation of a possible round at Queensland Raceway, which ultimately did not go ahead, and still remains there ahead of the planned resumption of the Dunlop Super2 Series and Repco Supercars Championship on October 2-3 at Victoria’s Winton.
“Where to next?” said Ojeda. “I don’t think I will be heading home anytime soon! There is some speculation that we could be racing again at Queensland Raceway so currently I have planned to stay in Queensland with some friends until Supercars decides on where we will be racing next and when. Living life out of a suitcase over the past months has been interesting! I’ve used up a lot of favours and made good friends along the way, but I am missing home” explained Ojeda of his situation.
“There’s not much point flying to somewhere to just go sit in lockdown,’ so now I’m just waiting to see if Melbourne can get a hold of their lockdown and outbreak, and then hopefully get down there.” said Jayden. Ojeda’s team, MW Motorsport, and major sponsor, Jayco, are both based in Melbourne.
“I’ve been lucky that I’ve had, I guess, the people I’ve got around me to make it work for this far, but ultimately I’d like to get to Melbourne if I’ve got to stay somewhere for a couple of months.
The Dunlop Super2 Series season is planned to resume at Winton Motor Raceway across October 2-3 and will finish with the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on the Surfers Paradise streets over the December 3-5 weekend. It will also feature at the marquee Repco Bathurst 1000, which will now be held over November 4-7.
Jayden is currently third in the Super2 Series, 87 points behind Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney and 36 adrift of Tickford Racing’s Zak Best.
Thank you to all my partners that helped get me on the grid for 2021, I’m extremely grateful to have the people I have supporting me! Thank you to Jayco, Lets Go Motorhomes, Sparesbox, City Hino, Mondiale VGL, Nepean Regional Security, AJM Transport, Johnny H Adventures, PAT Racing & Performance, The Western Weekender & Parra News, One Point Health, Martcom, EurOz Driver Performance, and Super 6 High Performance.
