The great sportsmanship of Supercars drivers who helped put out the flames on Macauley Jones’ car at the Gold Coast have prevented any severe damage.
Jones’ was one of six entries eliminated in the Beach Chicane pile-up early in Race 32 on the streets of Surfers Paradise.
The #96 Pertamina ZB Commodore driver was left with nowhere to go when James Golding made an error and clipped a tyre bundle in the mid-pack.
As Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Nick Percat slammed into Golding, Jones drilled the back of Percat as several other cars arrived on the scene.
In the aftermath, Jones’ Brad Jones Racing entry caught on fire, though the aforementioned drivers were quick to take action.
Team owner, Brad Jones, thanked those individuals for their efforts, which saved the car from a far worse outcome if the fire had got out of control.
“I really appreciate the other drivers jumping in and helping Macauley extinguish the blaze,” Jones told Speedcafe.com.
“They didn’t have to do that, and I really appreciate that they stepped up rather than walked away.
“To get the fire out as quickly as it was has made a huge difference; it was starting to really set in and I thought the car could have quite easily burnt to the ground.
“The job those drivers did made a huge difference, so I was very appreciative that Macca [Macauley Jones], James [Golding], and Nick [Percat] jumped in.
“It was really handy because the [safety] crew aren’t allowed to come onto the track until they are given permission and by then the thing would have been really on fire.”
Since returning to the BJR workshop in Albury, the #96 ZB Commodore has been stripped and assessed.
While there is minor damage to the front chassis rails, the car will be repaired for next month’s Valo Adelaide 500.
“Clearly there was a lot of fire damage but fortunately the car is structurally in very good shape,” added Jones.
“The guys have got the engine out of it, all the front-end pulled off of it, and cleaned as much of the fire damage off it as they can.
“There was a lot of foam everywhere. Now we’re just in the process of repairing the front rail a little bit and then the guys will basically start reassembling it.
“The front of the car and the engine took majority of the damage — Percat’s car you couldn’t see it, but it must have gone really high because it’s knocked a couple of throttle bodies off the inlet.
“That’s one of the good things about having four weeks between two street circuits, it gives us enough time to get home, repair all the cars, and get them ready for the next event.”
During the break, work will also be carried out on two other BJR ZB Commodores, which also incurred varying degrees of damage.
“Bryce [Fullwood’s] car had a fair bit of damage from Saturday and then Sunday of course the boys did an amazing job mostly repaired and get it out on the track after the red flag,” explained Jones.
“Same with Jack [Smith’s] car.
“[We’re] just going through our spares and making sure we’ve got everything we need going forward because we’re going to be at another street circuit and potentially more damage — there’s not a lot of run off.”
Andre Heimgartner’s #8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore also had its engine changed between Saturday and Sunday.
The Supercars season finale in Adelaide takes place from December 1-4.
