Jaxon Evans is prepared and ready for his maiden Repco Supercars Championship endurance event as a full-time driver as the Penrite Sandown 500 kicks off this weekend.
Having paired up with Jack Smith for the previous two endurance campaigns, it’s the New Zealander now being the lead driver in the SCT Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
“The Sandown 500 is not an easy one to win, but it’s certainly not to be taken as preparation for Bathurst,” said Evans. “We’ll go there, do the best we can and see where we finish up.”
Joining Evans for the enduros will be the vastly experienced Dean Fiore, who has six Bathurst 1000 top 10 finishes to his name.
“Working with Dean has been really good,” commented Evans. “He’s obviously a driver with a lot of experience not only as a co-driver, but as one who has been in the main game and a team owner.
“I’m learning a lot from him both on and off the track, which is always nice. It’s always good to have a second opinion on certain changes.
“It’s been a benefit having him alongside me and I think it’s a good fit.”
It’s Fiore’s experience where Evans hopes will be advantageous both on and off track. Fiore’s time as a team owner in Supercars provides a unique perspective for Evans to learn from during their endurance campaign.
A two-day pre-endurance event test occurred at Winton where Evans and Fiore spent time completing pit stop routines including driver changes. It proved a successful test for the pairing and has Evans confident for Sandown.
“Pre-enduro test was really good at Winton,” said Evans.
“It was across two days or us in the Brad Jones Racing camp, so it was awesome to get through a bunch of test items while also getting Dean (Fiore) up to speed and comfortable in the car.
“We’re pretty seamless with our driver changes now, no seat insert required is always a bonus, but I think everything went the way we wanted it to and we’ve got a good base moving into Sandown.”
Evans believes tyre degradation will be the deciding factor in gaining a result at Sandown in what will be his second start after contesting its return to the calendar last year.
Although changes to the Gen3 platform have been minimal since its endurance debut last year, the aerodynamic update will be important to factor arriving at a circuit like Sandown.
The 60th anniversary Penrite Sandown 500 is scheduled to take place on September 13-15.
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