BRAD Jones Racing is in the box seat to make it five Pirtek Pit Stop Challenge crowns on the trot.
Both BJR pitstop crews have qualified for the competition’s semi-finals, joined by Triple Eight Race Engineering and Grove Racing.
Decided across compulsory pitstops at the six SuperSprint rounds in 2023, the last of which was the recent Tailem Bend event, BJR’s lead garage (servicing Cars #8 and #14) topped the leaderboard – complete with a rapid 2.37s pitstop for Bryce Fullwood on Sunday.
Behind Triple Eight, the second BJR garage (#96/#4) made it a regular season one-three for the Albury squad.
“The pitstop competition is something that we as a group, really target, you know, it’s just really based on skill and hard work,” said BJR owner Brad Jones.
“And we’ve been fortunate enough to win it a number of times and been in the final four every time.
“So it’s something we really look forward to. And everyone in the team rises to try and win this trophy and being more successful at this than anyone else is even more incentive to try and continue our run of success.
“We’ve had such a good run in the Pirtek Pit Stop Challenge that Supercars changed the rules last year so teams couldn’t have the same crew in the final twice but here we stand with two crews in the final.
“It’s complimentary in a way that they feel the need to change the rules to offer more opportunity.”
BJR chief mechanic Sam Cosgrove, who is car controller for the #96/#4 crew, expressed pride at the results.
“I sort of have a bit of a proud dad moment watching the guys do the stop, I used to do it,” he said.
“Now I just stand in the front of the car and get to watch them do it. But it’s pretty cool to train them up, see them put in all the hard yards. And hopefully we can bring this trophy home again.
“I think it pushes both crews to be the best they can be.
“They help each other out but they also want to beat each other, which is pretty cool. But the biggest thing is that they work together, support each other and want to beat the competition no matter what.
“We’ve got a pretty good culture here at BJR. Everyone knows that we’re very good in the pitlane. And I think people come and they go from this team, and when we get new people come in, they inherit that culture to try and be the best that we can be in pitlane and keep up that reputation.”
The Pirtek Pit Stop Challenge finals are schedule to take place at the Gold Coast 500 in October.
