Mount Gambier local and Dunlop Super2 Series driver Jobe Stewart has driven to redemption after a successful weekend at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.
Stewart boosted his championship position from eighth to fifth and won Rookie of Round after a tough weekend in Townsville the race prior where he placed 15th and 23rd.
The young gun started the weekend on the right foot by placing third in Practice 1 and sixth in Practice 2 on Friday, which he followed up by qualifying fourth in Race 1 qualifying and placing second in Race 1.
“I started fourth and got a good start straight into second. I had a fair bit of speed early and tried to make a move on first but could not quite pull it off, but I was still happy to finish in second and had pretty good speed the whole way,” he said.
“I didn’t really have too much of a threat from behind so it was a good race overall.”
Stewart placed fourth again in qualifying for the second race and finished in fourth position in Race 2.
“I did not have as good of a start as I did the day before and I dropped back to about sixth or seventh I think – then I had to pass a couple of cars which was not too bad,” he said.
“I still had a fair bit of speed and I got back up to fourth and could not really go (higher) so that is where I finished.
“Fourth was still good and it still put me in second overall for the whole round, so it was a really consistent weekend overall and I was just happy to finish somewhere inside the top five in both races.
“It was good to stand up on the podium and get an overall round podium for the first time this year and to get Rookie of the Round is good.
“It is always good to get an extra trophy and beat all the other rookies out there, so I was pretty happy with that too.”
The Image Racing driver said he feels as though he has redeemed himself after the weekend of consistent racing.
“Where we were at the start of the year, it was looking good and then kind of turned back and now it has turned good again,” he said.
“I think all year we have had the package with the team and the car and stuff to do well, it has just been about executing it and we haven’t really done the best job with set up and stuff like that.
“For Sandown we just went back to the basic setup of the car for what we had at Bathurst which worked, which we probably should have done the whole year so that is kind of where the success came from I guess. Just going back to basics has worked out for us.
“It just started well because we had a fair bit of time after Townsville to reset and go again and do well and set us up pretty good for the last couple of rounds which are all coming up pretty close together.
“We have got some good momentum going on now which we can carry into those next two rounds.
“To go from eighth to fifth in one weekend is pretty good. If we can continue that I would like to think I can maybe end up third or fourth in the championship or something like that, so I will just keep going and I will try to have consistent results and keep moving forward.”
Stewart will race at the Bathurst Repco 1000 on October 10-13 before competing in the final race of the season at the VAILO Adelaide 500 on November 14-17.
“We will keep the same setup with the car, I think everybody in the team is pretty happy with where we ended the car,” he said.
“We still tuned it a little bit throughout the weekend at Sandown, but the base philosophy of the car was all the same.
“It was just little fine-tuning throughout the weekend – so we will start with what we did at Sandown as a baseline setup when we roll out for Practice 1 at Bathurst and then if we need a little bit here or there we will just tune it or tweak it as we go.
“Bathurst is probably the track I have raced on most in the last couple of years, so I am feeling pretty confident going back there.
“We were fast at the start of the year there with a second place finish in the race.
“It is probably one of the most confident tracks for me. I have been there enough times now that I can just go straight into it and practice and try and go as fast as I can.”
