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Jayden Ojeda believes it “only fair” that what would have been his first Dunlop Super2 Series race win was taken away following a night-time change to the classification.
The #31 MW Motorsport entry was initially classified as the victor in Race 1 of Round 3, which ended early due to carnage at Turn 3, but that was on the basis of results being backdated to the completion of Lap 13.
That changed hours later when the final classification was made effective Lap 14, putting Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney back in front, and relegating Ojeda to second position.
It had been Feeney first and Ojeda second at the time of the crash just behind them on Lap 15, when Tyler Everingham tagged Zak Best in the battle for third and several piled into them, and thus also when the Safety Car and then red flag was called.
Car #888 had passed Car #31 on Lap 14 at Turn 2, a move that was effectively made null and void due to where the classification was originally backdated to.
However, it became decisive again when Lap 14 became the final tour of the Reid Park Street Circuit to be counted.
“I was a race winner for all of about three hours, but, oh well, I finished second on the track so it’s only fair that I finished second in the results,” said Ojeda.
Everingham was ultimately not found to have committed any wrongdoing, while his MWM team-mate was arguably somewhat hard done by considering how the other Safety Car period of the race played out.
Ojeda was 4.7s up on Feeney when the race was neutralised for the first time on Lap 9 of a scheduled 21, but had next to no margin at all with as many as nine laps to go at the restart.
As for potentially re-passing #888 had the race continued beyond the Turn 3 pile-up, he seemed not too fussed.
“Could have rained… I don’t know, there’s so many possibilities that could have happened,” noted Ojeda.
“The race was definitely on, so anything could have happened in those last five or six or seven laps.”
The 21-year-old ultimately leaves Townsville with two second placings and two third placings, and third in the series having been sixth before the fortnight of racing in North Queensland.
“Ultimately, a very strong weekend for us,” he added.
“The past two weeks, we’ve been on the pace, haven’t finished outside the top three, so, in terms of consistency, we’re definitely there.
“It’s just about putting, I guess, that last little bit of effort in, both for myself and the team, to get the race wins.”
Ojeda spoke after Round 2 of the season about trying to establish himself as MWM’s team leader, after Thomas Randle won the Super2 Series with the squad last year.
He continued on that theme following the just-completed Round 3, touching on how he is setting up his Altima more to his liking in his second year in Super2.
“Each driver drives a little bit different and it definitely is a little bit getting comfortable in a different car,” explained Ojeda of his situation.
“It took a bit of time to get used to it; obviously having Tom in the team last year, both asked for something a little bit different, but obviously when you’re with someone that’s so experienced, you’re trying to do what they’re trying to do all the time, thinking that will be the best thing.
“So, definitely having a bit more freedom to only do my part to what I want from the car is definitely a big help for me, to guide the team this year.”
Being the only Sydney resident in either of the Repco Supercars Championship or Super2, Ojeda is likely to stay in South East Queensland for the time being.
