MW Motorsport’s Jayden Ojeda and Tyler Everingham are aiming to make up lost ground when the Dunlop Super2 Series finally resumes this weekend in Townsville.
Both could reasonably be considered title contenders in 2021 but left the first and so far only round of the season at Mount Panorama just sixth and ninth in the series, respectively.
Ojeda was a below-expectation fifth in Race 1, when he was experimenting with right-foot braking, before his second race unravelled after contact from Broc Feeney.
Everingham was in fact the official winner of Race 2 in Bathurst after the controversial disqualification of Image Racing’s Jordan Boys, but failed to start Race 1 due to a clutch problem.
“I’m looking forward to getting back into the Super2 Series,” said Ojeda, last year’s leading rookie.
“Obviously five months is a little bit too long – it’s longer than most off-seasons – so overall just looking forward to getting back out on track.
“Obviously, the results at Bathurst were probably some of our weakest results.
“Considering it’s my second season as well we definitely want to improve on that and we want to be fighting for the title at the end of the series.
“Hopefully at Townsville we can have a bit of luck go our way and fight up the front where I think we belong.”
Everingham remarked, “We showed pretty good pace at Bathurst and it was very good to get that last race win to recover the weekend after getting no points in the first race.
“It’s going to be pretty big opportunity to gain back points. I suppose keeping that consistency and doing the best we can will climb us up the leaderboard.
“I’m very excited to be racing again, it’s been a long break so I’m ready for it.
“I’m a little bit nervous – we’ve had a big break since the first round at Bathurst – but very keen and very excited to get back in the car and get used to it again.”
While Everingham and Ojeda are in their second Super2 seasons with MWM, the former after a year away, the environment and the squad’s Nissan Altimas are less familiar to Josh Fife and Declan Fraser.
Fife, who shifted from Brad Jones Racing in the off-season, sits 14th in the standings after finding the wall in Race 2 at Mount Panorama.
“We had an unfortunate DNF at Bathurst, so we’d love to improve from there and try to get some strong results at Townsville,” said the Super3 race winner.
“We’ve had two test days now. The last at Winton went well and I felt comfortable in, so hopefully when I get back into the car it should feel good.
“I’ve been training five times a week and I’ve been on the simulator just to keep my hand in because it’s been such a long break. I’ve done everything that will get me best in shape for Townsville.”
Fraser, eighth in the points after his debut Super2 round, added, “We’ve had one test day since Bathurst where we progressed on a lot of things that we found, which needed to work on from then.
“The guys from MW Motorsport gave me the push and led me in the right directions.
“I think heading to Townsville I’m a lot more confident now with the car and I’m starting to find my place at home I suppose you could say.
“The rookie title is the main focus for us this year, obviously I’ve got to learn as much as possible.
“We’ve got to keep pushing and hopefully this weekend we can regain the lead in the rookie series, while really showing our potential with what we have.”
Super2 will be part of both of this year’s Townsville events, with Practice 1 for the first of those kicking off tomorrow at 09:55 local time/AEST.
