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Jack Le Brocq says a mistake while leading Race 5 of the Tasmania SuperSprint was largely due to lingering bruises to his car after an earlier crash in Race 4.
On Sunday morning, the Truck Assist Racing driver qualified a career-best second for the weekend’s finale.
However, in the penultimate race of the event, Le Brocq got tangled with R&J Batteries Racing driver Andre Heimgartner on Lap 1, sending both cars into the outside wall at the final turn.
A mammoth effort by Matt Stone Racing got the heavily damaged #34 Holden ZB Commodore back on track in time for the start of the final race.
Starting second from the right-hand side of the road, Le Brocq got the jump on Shell V-Power Racing Team driver Will Davison to get the holeshot into Turn 1.
However, his time at the front was short-lived, locking up under brakes into the Turn 4 hairpin on Lap 2.
That dropped Le Brocq to the rear of the field, eventually going on to finish 23rd in the 44-lapper.
As he explained, the mistake boiled down to his car still carrying wounds from the earlier incident.
“The car was pulling a little bit under brakes and I probably should have driven to where the car was at,” Le Brocq told Speedcafe.com.
“It’s one of those things where I probably wanted to have a crack and unfortunately it caught me out.
“But, to be honest mate, I’m just glad we got the car back on track. It’s a credit to these guys. It’s unreal when you see the damage that was done, it was a pretty awesome effort.
“It was slapped together as quickly as they could. It’s one of those things, with these short turnarounds, it’s hard to even do the proper work on it.
“The car wasn’t too bad pace-wise, it was just unfortunate it was pulling under brakes. To be honest, it’s to be expected with stuff like that.
“We don’t even know how straight it is, it was just smack some arms and uprights on it and go from there. I can’t take anything away from the guys though.”
Le Brocq was quick to praise his Matt Stone Racing crew for an all hands on deck rebuild that saw extensive repairs to the right-front corner.
Such was the effort that the team finished just moments before the 30-minute signal to roll out onto the grid.
The 29-year-old himself tried to help where he could.
“I wanted to try and get in there and help as much as possible,” he said.
“I was probably getting in the way more than anything so I sort of sat in the background doing little bits and pieces – just trying to be there for the guys.
“It’s so tough in those sorts of situations. It’s crazy to think what they did in a short amount of time.
“It was one of those up-and-down weekends, the old rollercoaster. I don’t think I’ve had one like that where you have so many ups and downs. It’s a character-building one.
“Obviously the boys did an awesome job to get this car back together. It’s pretty unbelievable with what it looked like two hours before the race. I can’t thank all those boys enough.
“It’s a mega effort from these guys.”
Although he walked away with two DNFs and a 23rd place finish, Le Brocq had reason to be happy.
On outright pace, he and team-mate Todd Hazelwood were firmly among the contenders for top 10 finishes.
“I’m over the moon,” said Le Brocq.
“I probably didn’t expect it to have this sort of speed at this stage already. It’s a credit to these guys. From my end, I just need to finish the job and try bring home some results.
“For myself, I’m still trying to understand this car a lot and build that relationship with Jacko [Jack Bellotti, race engineer]. Todd’s the same, we’re trying to get used to these cars. I think it’s a good thing.
“I feel like we’re making really good progress and we’re only going to keep moving forward with every round we have. It’s a credit to these guys, they do a lot behind the scenes at home.
“I think they’re putting together a really good package. Yeah, it’s exciting, we just need to keep building on it and try stay out of trouble.”
Le Brocq’s season continues at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix across April 7-10 where Supercars will have four races.
