GARRY Jacobson has broken his silence on his time away from Supercars and his surprise return to the sport.
Exactly eight months on from his sudden PremiAir Racing axing, Jacobson was yesterday announced as a 2023 co-driver at Tickford Racing.
The Shepparton product is at the Supercars pre-season test at Sydney Motorsport Park today and is due to turn laps at some stage – his first laps in a race car of any form since his last start for PremiAir at Darwin.
Jacobson kept a low profile during his hiatus but was warmly greeted back to the paddock by many this morning.
“I just used last year as an opportunity to just think about what I wanted to do with the time I had for the rest of the year so I went to the Kangan Institute straightaway and got busy,” he told V8 Sleuth.
“I got a diesel (mechanic) apprenticeship going and I bought a block of land and just got to work.
“(The PremiAir decision) was just as much a shock for me as it was for everybody else. I still don’t necessarily have any answers about what went on last year.
“I have never heard from Pete Xiberras, I tried to call him on the day that I found out like everybody else on social media.
“I took the time to try to digest that as quickly as I could. I was approached by several teams last year for co-driving opportunities and I could have done that but I just wanted to see the year out and just have a clear mindset on what I wanted to do.
“It was a year where I had such good momentum to that point, I remember before I got dropped from the team I was getting praised for my results at Grand Prix.
“We were running a car at the time out of a PremiAir Hire depot and I had numerous mechanical DNFs and stuff like that… I’m still proud to say I got the team their best racing results of the year.
“I just wanted to re-evaluate what I wanted to do.”
It was a phone call from Tickford team manager Matt Roberts which sparked the Jacobson/Tickford reunion, the combination having sealed the 2016 Super2 title.
Jacobson also made his main game debut with Tickford the following year, joining forces with Jason Bright to take eighth in the 2017 Bathurst 1000.
“They did the right thing by me in 2016 as a Super2 driver where they kind of put me on the map; they gave me a good car and I was able to secure that 2016 Super2 championship,” said Jacobson.
“It was always a positive memory working with that team so when he asked, ‘would you be willing to do a co-drive’, it sort of changed my mind – it was ‘okay, I’ll do it for this team, they’ve been good to me and I want to reward them back’.
“That’s all this year has really been about for me.
“I think they have got some good young talent in the team and there’s a few kids there that I would be more than willing to give my time to and work with them at places like Norwell.
“It’s a happy hunting ground for me where you get yourself as sharp as possible – there’s no one better than Paul Morris at giving a good evaluation in a Toyota 86.
“Probably similar to my approach as a main game driver, I’ll be quite meticulous and making sure I can do anything I can to play my role in the team and just be helpful any way I can.”
Of the reaction to his return, Jacobson said: “My reputation means a lot to me.
“As I said, I’m proud of the results I got. My reputation for the last 13 years, I thought maybe I would let that do the talking.
“I’m grateful that I did that and remained silent because I think genuinely when people saw me today, the surprise and delight on their faces was humbling to see.
“It’s nice to see that there’s a community within Supercars that remembers me for having a good reputation and being a kind person.
“I still wish the team at PremiAir the best. I can’t wait to race them on the track, fairly, and the same for me, I want to get back to work and do what I love.
“I love motorsport and I’ve always been the kind of person that jumps out of the car and whether it’s a good result or a bad result, naturally I can’t hold it in, I’m always smiling because I’m having a good time.
“I love the whole hype of the Gen3 car. I’m sure it will be a fun car to drive but I think even if you told me I was racing a wheelbarrow I would be just as excited.”
