Aaron Cameron was sent flying off track at Turn 5 on the opening lap of Saturday’s first race following side-to-side contact with James Courtney.
It was another awkward moment for a team that started the year with a clash between Courtney and Aaron Love in Sydney, after which Love was replaced by Cameron.
“I wasn’t too pleased,” recounted Cameron on the Drivers’ Only podcast, having been forced to pit following the incident and ending the race in last place.
“Going up out of Turn 5, I was just trying to file in, James was coming out pretty quick, pretty wide, and ‘hip-and-shoulder, see you later’.
“Earlier in the year when he was doing it to the other rookies, Cooper Murray, Kai Allen, I was laughing, thinking ‘how good is this, suck it’… he always helps me out.”
Cameron had started the race four places behind Courtney in 22nd but was ahead of the Snowy River Mustang through the opening turns.
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“In the team you have little start competitions, zero to 100km/h times, and I get smoked all the time,” Cameron continued.
“But this time I nailed it, he lit it up and I went past him, waving, giving him the bird, it was just awesome.
“I think he was so upset that I beat him off the start that he had to hip and shoulder me!
“I went a long way out to whatever is out there at Turn 5. I got hit on the right-rear, but I punctured a left-rear because I flew up and dug in.”
Cameron finished 25th, 18th and 19th across the three races in Perth, continuing a tough initiation to the main game following his sudden call-up in the wake of the Sydney season-opener.
“I knew it was going to be tough but probably I thought we were going to be able to make a few more inroads in terms of setup and performance,” he said of his season to date.
“But the field is just so close this year and probably other years as well, but it’s really tough. In Super2 you can afford to lock a brake and make a little mistake that costs a tenth or two.
“You do that here and you’re nowhere. I was a tenth and a half off making the [top 10] in the second quali, it was ridiculous. I was 19th.”
While his own weekend was not what he’d hoped for, Cameron expressed pleasure at seeing the team score its first main game trophy and noted a welcome problem that came with it.
“I was talking to JB (John Blanchard), he doesn’t know where he’s going to put it,” said Cameron of Courtney’s third-place trophy.
“We’re going to have to actually buy a shelf from Ikea and build something, because we don’t have any trophies. So, if anyone is a good cabinet maker out there and wants to help us…”
BRT did already have one trophy to its name courtesy of Jack Perkins’ victory in Round 3 of the Super2 Series in Townsville last July.
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