The 2018 Carrera Cup Australia and 2020 Carrera Cup France title winner has contested the past two enduro campaigns as Jack Smith’s co-driver but is now spearheading the SCT entry, which bears #12 for the 2024 season.
This week’s test day at Winton was therefore Evans’ first as a primary driver, which was a different experience despite remaining in the BJR fold.
“Really happy to finish up the first test day of the year,” said the New Zealander, who has rookie status given he has only contested enduros thus far.
“Obviously, my first test day as a main driver in the Supercars Championship, so it was good to get acquainted with the team again, get comfortable in the car, fine-tune some things to suit my driving style, or change my driving style a little bit to suit the car.
“Really enjoyed working with my engineer and mechanics and looking forward to going to Bathurst.”
Evans will once again have Julian Stannard, who returned to the SCT entry last year, as his Race Engineer.
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However, given he will drive the white and red Camaro at every event in 2024, he is also driving the set-up direction.
“It feels good; it’s much nicer to have the focus around you, as selfish as that sounds,” said the 27-year-old.
“There’s certain driving styles that suit these cars and a few things I suppose that I bring to the table that are slightly different.
“But I think collectively it’s moving forward, and hopefully it gives us a fresh outlook for the season ahead.”
All four entries from the BJR stable were in action at Winton on Wednesday, the other three of which cycled through primary drivers and co-drivers.
Andre Heimgartner shared his #8 R&J Batteries Camaro with Declan Fraser, Bryce Fullwood his #14 Middy’s Camaro with another new co-driver in Jaylyn Robotham, and Macauley Jones his #96 Pizza Hut Camaro with incumbent co-driver Jordan Boys.
Heimgartner finished a career-best seventh in the championship in 2023, with he and Heimgartner combining for third in the teams’ standings, equalling BJR’s best.
The former declared his 2024 pre-season test day, “Overall not a bad day.
“It’s nice beautiful weather here, which is always pleasant when you don’t get rain.
“Rolled out of the truck pretty strong, tried some things we wanted to try from last year and I think we made some good gains and learned some good things for this year and it’s exciting.
“So, just see what we can learn from today and then take it to others.”
Both Chevrolet and Ford teams have a new aerodynamic package to get their heads around, after off-season wind tunnel testing.
The season starts with the Thrifty Bathurst 500 on February 23-25.
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