JAY Robotham is the super versatile Supercars racer many mightn’t know too much about.
Robotham will later this year make his second start in the Repco Bathurst 1000, joining Cameron Hill in Matt Stone Racing’s #35 entry.
Having won the 2020 Super3 crown, Robotham was a regular the past two seasons in Super2, and also made a one-off appearance at the Newcastle 500 in March.
But he’s gone a different way with his 2023 program, competing domestically in the National Trans Am Series and abroad in the Thailand Super Series.
Robotham is on double duties – in Super Pickups and TA2 – this weekend in the TSS’ round at the wild beachside Bangsaen Street Circuit.
The 20-year-old has previously described the venue as “one of the coolest tracks I’ve ever driven” and noted “there’s a section of track that’s under permanent yellow flags”.
Robotham is counting on his racing diversity to help him in the maiden Gen3 Supercars enduros at Sandown and Bathurst.
“I have just been doing Super2 the last few years. You only get six rounds and the last few years have been pretty crap with track time in Super2, so we gave that away,” he explained to V8 Sleuth.
“The goal is just to drive as many cars as possible.
“Like you see the likes of Brodie (Kostecki) and SVG (Shane van Gisbergen) and stuff, they’re in anything they can drive, so that was sort of the plan this year.
“At the start of the year it didn’t look like I was doing anything so just trying to get laps in anything I can and when a new car comes, just like (the Gen3 Camaro), I can be a bit more comfortable going into having driven a whole lot of diverse type of cars.”
While TA2 machinery is familiar to Australian fans, the Super Pickup category is not so much.
“It’s definitely different,” said Robotham.
“There’s no weight in the rear; standard engines, they’ve done a bit to the heads but they run on 30 to 40-pound boost so it’s different.
“Some of the cars are like 30km/h quicker down the straight!
“Once the races come, it’s actually pretty fun because they turn their cars up and they get hot and some blow up and then they come back.”
MSR’s #35 Truck Assist Camaro was also in action today with Hill completing a rookie test at Queensland Raceway.
