Erebus Academy driver Jay Hanson has proven himself amongst the top end of the field, as he and teammate Reef McCarthy made their Super2 debuts at Mount Panorama last weekend.
Although Saturday’s final race was called off due to treacherous weather conditions, the Image Racing duo had proven pace in the wet and managed to finish the weekend with minimal damage.
Hanson put on a consistent performance, finishing Friday’s race in 6th place and not falling outside of the top 7 in any session across the weekend.
“It was my first Bathurst in a Super2 car and overall it was a pretty good weekend,” Hanson said.
“It was difficult to adapt to the Mountain’s conditions especially with it being high risk and high reward around here, I really just wanted to be cautious and make sure the car was straight for all sessions.
“The past couple of rounds, we’ve made the step inside the top 10 and last weekend we made another step forward.
“We were knocking on the door of the top five so it’s just unfortunate that we didn’t get many race laps because I think we would have had the pace to run top five and maybe even sneak a podium.”
McCarthy recorded 13th in the weekend’s only race, though the 18-year-old was pleased to be back racing a Supercar and proud to have made the step into Super2.
“I started off the weekend well and was super happy to get some dry running in practice 2,” McCarthy said.
“Sadly, I didn’t get any wet running in the Super2 prior to the weekend so that was a whole new learning curve for myself.
“I was really looking forward to the wet racing though, I showed good pace in the wet on Friday but sadly we weren’t able to get out on track.
“Moving forward, I’m currently looking for options to get myself in a Super2 next year. I think with my ultimate goal being the main game, that’s my next step.”
For now McCarthy will continue his Formula Vee racing, while Hanson will be joined by Jaylyn Robotham for Super2’s final round at the Adelaide 500, December 2 – 4.