South East racing sensation Jobe Stewart celebrated his birthday in style over the weekend by tying for first with Cameron McLeod in the second round of the Dunlop Super3 Series at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint.
Stewart, newly 19, is leading the championship after a winning performance in round one at the Thrifty Newcastle 500.
The Image Racing driver was a standout in qualifying for race two on Sunday, earning his maiden Super3 pole.
“Coming here in Perth and being able to get my first pole was probably the highlight of the weekend,” he said.
“It was pretty special to get my first pole on my birthday.
“I was very happy with that, I was kind of disappointed that I could not get one in round one at Newcastle.”
The young gun came out of the gates firing on Saturday with a second in qualifying which set the pace for first place in race one.
After leading most of race two on Sunday, Stewart fell to second place behind McLeod due to a struggle with his tyres.
“It was a 40-minute race and we had a safety car towards the end and there was kind of a five-minute sprint at the end after that,” he said.
“Cameron behind me just had a bit more tyre life and I think his car came on a little bit later than mine and the car was struggling a bit in those last five laps.
“He (McLeod) just got up to the back of me and I tried my best to defend it, but he got past on I think the second last lap which is a bit disappointing, but I still tried my hardest and managed to come away with second which there is no complaint about.
“It would have been nice to win that second race and take home the round win (alone), but I just could not hold on in the second race.”
Stewart will look to extend his Super3 championship in round three at the NTI Townsville 500 on July 7-9 on the Reid Park Circuit.
“I am actually feeling pretty confident going into Townsville because the first two rounds at Newcastle and now Perth are tracks I had never been to before, but I raced at Townsville last year in the Toyota 86 Series,” he said.
