JAXON Evans’ first round as a primary Repco Supercars Championship driver ended in agony; namely with a visit to the onsite medical centre.
Evans had been running a solid Sunday race at Bathurst, hovering in the mid-teens around the likes of teammate Andre Heimgartner and Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters before a late brush of the wall at the Esses.
The result of that was limping home in 21st – only to hop out of the car and perhaps be limping for a different reason.
“His foot had gotten really hot in the car and it got burnt quite badly, so he had to go to the medical centre after the race,” team owner Brad Jones told V8 Sleuth.
“He’s okay, but between the two things (the burn and the contact) it was a disappointing end to what looked pretty promising for a long period of the race.”
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Jones attributed the problem to teething issues with getting rookie Evans’ ergonomics right.
“We’ve been playing around with pedals, trying to get him comfortable and move him a bit closer to the firewall,” he elaborated.
“But he was catching Cam and he wanted to have a bit of a run at him and he just tweaked the car on the wall.”
Evans described it a “tough weekend” on the whole.
“We definitely aren’t where we want to be, but every time I get in the car I’m learning and growing,” he said.
“Today wasn’t really good for us at all. Difficult qualifying and then while I had some decent pace in the race, it didn’t go to plan.”
The 27-year-old was however the top-scoring rookie, with Aaron Love crashing thrice on his own in the two races and Ryan Wood tangled up by the first corner on both occasions.
Brad Jones Racing’s top finisher in both legs of the Thrifty Bathurst 500 was Bryce Fullwood, with seventh and 12th.
