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Jordan Boys has sealed his return to the Bathurst 1000 grid after missing last year’s Great Race.
Boys will reunite with Brad Jones Racing, for whom he drove with Todd Hazelwood in 2020.
It’s the first sign of the 24-year-old’s plans this year, having not appeared in the opening round of either the Dunlop Super2 Series nor the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship.
He will partner Macauley Jones in the #96 entry for the October 6-9 event.
Team owner Brad Jones openly admitted he was disappointed not to be able to find room for Boys in his endurance season roster last year and is excited to now welcome him back.
“Jordan is a really strong driver and he’s been in Super2 for a while, so I thought it was a good chance to get him back together with the team,” Jones Snr told Speedcafe.com.
“I feel like the fact that he lives in Albury, it’s easy for him to come into the workshop. He has a relationship with some of the team here; he’s been here before and I think he’s fast, so all of those things contribute to us wanting to put him into a seat here.
“He has got a relationship with Erebus and I appreciate that Barry [Ryan] and Betty [Klimenko] allow him to come and run here with us but also by the same token, I feel like he had a pretty tough go of it when he was in the car with Todd, so this is an opportunity to get him back in the car and see what he can do.”
Boys is determined to make his opportunity count.
“It’s always the worry, once you miss out on a year whether you can get back in, so I’m really stoked to be able to jump back in and to be able to do it with Macca is great too because he is probably the guy I’m closest with within the field,” he said.
“I need to show that I can do a good job and be a reliable set of hands so it is really important and all my races at this point are going to be really important so that I can make that next step.
“So I’m going to be putting a lot of emphasis on it and doing as much prep as I can.
“I need to do a good job so that’s going to be all my focus going in.”
The deal is the latest chapter in the long-running relationship between Boys and Jones.
“His family race go-karts and it’s a pretty small community really,” Jones noted.
“I think the first road trip Macauley went on karting, he went with the Boys family, so we have known them for a long, long time within karting.
“They’re a great family, have got really good family values, and Jordan has worked really hard at getting to where he has with having to find all the financial backing, so I actually admire that side of his journey as well because in some ways it reminds me a lot of what Kim [Jones, brother] and I had to do.
“There’s lots of things that contribute but the fact is I think he is fast and I think he fits in with the team well and will do a great job, and that’s why I want him.”
BJR is yet to make any other 2022 co-driver announcements as yet, although Dale Wood joined the squad last season on a two-year deal. He defied injury to finish sixth alongside Nick Percat in December.
Only three teams have confirmed their full 2022 Bathurst 1000 roster thus far: Tickford Racing, Walkinshaw Andretti United, and Erebus Motorsport.
Zane Goddard and Kurt Kostecki are new faces at Tickford alongside returnees James Moffat and Zak Best; WAU has secured Fabian Coulthard and re-signed Warren Luff; and Erebus has retained both Jack Perkins and David Russell.
Elsewhere, Michael Caruso is under contract at Team 18.
Last year, BJR’s co-drivers were Wood, Dean Fiore, Chris Pither, and David Wall. Pither is now a full-timer at PremiAir Racing.
