It is onwards and upwards for Mount Gambier racer Jobe Stewart, 20, who will look to race in the Dunlop Super2 Series for the second time next year.
Stewart competed over the weekend at the championship finale held at the VAILO Adelaide 500.
The young gun qualified 11th for race one, which he was able to turn into a sixth place finish, but unfortunately dropped to 10th due to a five second time penalty.
“On lap two I think it was, I was behind Lachie Dalton for like eighth or ninth or whatever and I just tapped him going into turn six and got past and he lost a couple spots from it,” he said.
“There was definitely contact there but it was not really too bad, which is why I think … the penalty kind of suited the crime.
“It still sucks because it dropped me down four spots but I was more focussed on the Sunday race, because I qualified pretty poorly for Saturday.”
The youngster managed to qualify fourth for Sunday’s race two, which he converted into a third place finish.
“I was pretty happy to finish off the year with a podium,” he said.
“It was pretty hairy at the start with the guys in front battling and then when Aaron got hit from Kai and then pretty much from there it was just smooth sailing and trying to keep consistent.
“I had my teammate Jarrod behind me, so I did not really have much pressure from behind and I was just trying to push forward to try and catch Kai and Zach in front.
“We were pretty even in speed so I could not really catch them too much so I just tried to keep it consistent and not make too many mistakes, so I could bring it home in third.”
Stewart said his racing season this year was filled with a lot of highs and lows.
“We were pretty fast at round one at Bathurst and then it kind of dropped away,” he said.
“The second half of the season we kind of bounced back and got faster and faster.
“To finish fifth [in the championship] after a DNF and a couple of bad results is still pretty good, but it’s more just taking a look at everything I have learnt throughout the year and the speed we had at all the different tracks.
“The last three rounds, there was some bad results in there too but I think we were one of the quickest cars on track, so that is really positive heading into the future.
“The bad races are where you learn the most, so I guess you could say it has been a good year for learning.”
Stewart said there is a 90% chance he will race in the Dunlop Super2 Series again next year with the Erebus Academy.
“Next year will just be about going in and trying to win races straight away,” he said.
“Going into this year, it was my first year in Super2 and I did not know what to expect, but now I think we have got to the point at the end of the year where we know we can compete for race wins and try and win a championship so that will be my goal going into next year.
“It will be good to be in a familiar environment again and work with all the same people. The longer we work together the better we work together.”
