Mount Gambier racer Jobe Stewart, 20, experienced the highs and the lows of Mount Panorama over the weekend at the Repco Bathurst 1000 in the Dunlop Super2 Series.
Stewart placed 5th in practice one and 13th in practice two on Thursday and qualified second for race one on Friday.
“Getting second (in qualifying) and being on the front row was definitely a bit of a weight off my shoulders going into the race knowing that I was already starting up the front,” he said.
Fellow racer Aaron Cameron was hot on Stewart’s heels for the first half of race one, but the Blue Lake boy managed a clean slip in the second half to finish more than 13 seconds in front of the field.
Stewart said he would not want to get his first Super2 win at any other track.
“That’s the track that’s the best, the hardest probably of the whole year, so to win there for my first win makes it a whole lot more special,” he said.
“We got pretty close at the start of the year at Bathurst as well with a second and to come back here and have the same speed again and go one better, the whole team was proud of themselves and everyone was pretty happy.
“It was good to do a full race by myself which is just good to try and keep the consistency and when I was driving out the front I was trying to go as fast as I could.”
Stewart qualified 7th in qualifying for race two, but things took a turn for the worse during the race after a mistake at The Chase and a near miss badly damaged a tire and left him on the sidelines unable to finish the rest of the race.
“We did find a little bit of qualifying speed but so did everyone else, so that was not really ideal. It’s still not too bad, but I would have liked to be a bit further forward,” he said.
“The race started off well, I think I got up to fifth or sixth and then there was that safety car and I made another pass after that safety car, and the lap after that I just made a mistake coming into the chase.
“I did not get the braking right and then I was going a bit too fast which caused me to lock the brakes.
“From there I was just heading straight on for the other cars and had to pick a gap to avoid, and luckily I did and there was not too much damage to the car, but then the tire a few laps later just gave out because it was flat spotted from locking the brakes.”
The Erebus Motorsport racer said the devastating end to the weekend was a learning opportunity.
“We had a fair bit of confidence going into Saturday, so it is disappointing to end it like that,” he said.
“It sucks to end the weekend on a low but overall we can still be happy with the place we had and everything I learnt over the weekend.
“The days that do not go the best are the days where you learn the most.
“Probably like any sport you always have your bad days so you have just got to take them as good as you can and not dwell on them for too long and learn from it and come back stronger.”
Stewart will compete at his favourite track, the Adelaide Parklands circuit for the VAILO 500 on November 14-17 in the season finale of the Dunlop Super2 Series championship.
“I was pretty fast there last year in Super … it is in my home state and it’s the closest track to me, so that also means a little bit and I will have a fair few family members and supporters there which will be good,” he said.
“It will be good in that aspect that I have people there that I know and also I love driving around the track.
“I love circuits and Adelaide is definitely my favourite track that I have raced at so far.
“I will obviously still try and finish as I can (in the championship) but the main thing is just trying to win races at Adelaide and wherever I end up in the championship is where I’ll end up.”
Stewart currently sits 7th in the Dunlop Super2 Series championship heading into the final round at Adelaide next month.
