Mount Gambier’s Jobe Stewart scorched up the track during the weekend’s racing at Bathurst.
The 16-year-old delivered a great driving performance in the Toyota 86 Gazoo racing Australia series.
It was a great start for Stewart in the practice sessions taking it fairly easy in the first session due to a heavily soaked and foggy track, but a red flag stopped racing in its tracks.
Stewart had his car on song in the second session and finished in front, just missing out on setting a lap record by one tenth of a second.
He just missed pole position in the qualifying round by 0.004 of a second, which saw him start from position two.
“The weekend got off to a pretty good start,” Stewart said.
“It started off wet in the first practice and I was somewhere around the top 10, and then we were just trying to build on it in the practice sessions and then came qualifying.
“I qualified second, which we are really happy with trying to get on the front row at the final round of the series.”
The clouds over Mount Panaroma opened up in race one, however Stewart got away to a good start and established a gap.
However he came unstuck after losing his rear on the turn in of Conrod Straight, finishing his race.
“Race one I got a good start but unfortunately at the chase I had a big off,” he said.
“There were heaps of people standing on the track including me with about 10 others.
“Then that set the tone for the rest of the weekend as we were going to be off the back of the grid.”
Stewart started in 18th in race two, but gained some momentum in the rain, despite plenty of carnage around him, managing to move into 9th spot.
In the final race Stewart started out of position nine and in tricky conditions he brought his Toyota 86 home in position 11, managing to retain third spot in the championship.
While at the great race, Stewart also got the chance to pit crew for the Boost Mobile team, learning the tricks of the trade.
“Stanaway Murphy Wild Card did not have a driver changing system for their pit stops and the guys down there asked me,” he said.
“The guys at Erebus were asking me if I could do the job.
“It was super exciting.
“It is good to actually do something different other than driving and getting to be involved with how the team works and everything.
“The more I can talk to those guys and learn how everything works actually helps me in the future.”
Stewart will now take a break before turning his attention to next season’s racing.
“We have not worked it out just yet out what we are going to do with plans and sponsors and stuff like that,” he said.
