Erebus Academy driver Jobe Stewart has secured his first top ten in last night’s virtual Sandown enduro, teaming up with All Stars driver Jordan Cox.
The pair made significant gains from P18 at the start; Jobe’s teammate profiting from opening lap carnage that saw a number of front runners in the fence, boosting him as high as P13 by the end of lap 2.
With Jobe primed to take over driving duties once Jordan’s minimum laps were complete, car #33 entered a busy pit lane on lap 18 for a driver change and fresh tyres.
Keeping his head down and his racing clean, Jobe had worked his way up to P12 by the time the safety car was deployed on lap 33. However, the restart saw Jobe lose two positions to those who had opted for fresher tyres while under the yellow flag.
Now sitting P14, some late race crashes benefitted Jobe greatly with the young driver gaining four positions by the final lap, crossing the line 8 positions higher than he qualified in P10.
Jobe Stewart said: “I found the track a lot better than Winton, just like how the track flows and the curbs suited my driving style better. After we qualified P18, I was pretty disappointed. I thought I still had a fair bit left to give but I messed up a couple of runs. Heading into the night, the plan was always to get Jordan’s 17 laps complete before I would take over. Jordan did really well, he made a couple of little mistakes but considering it was one of his first Eseries races, he was really good. The incident between a couple of the guys in the mid pack was beneficial for my results, I gained three or four spots from it. I’m really happy to have finished P10, especially given where we qualified and where we were running for most of the race so to get a top ten is awesome.”
The third round of the Eseries kicks off next Wednesday, August 4 at a Fan’s Choice venue.