Erebus Academy driver Jobe Stewart has secured 3rd in this year’s Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Championship, meanwhile Bailey Sweeny and Harry Gray have followed closely, rounding out the top five in the standings.
With the season closing at last weekend’s Bathurst 1000, Stewart began his weekend with a strong qualifying performance that would see him starting from the front row of the grid, missing out on pole by just 0.04 of a second.
After taking the lead of the race, unfortunately a big spin at the end of the Chase saw Stewart finish race one in P17 followed by two 11th place finishes across the following races.
“After qualifying second and coming into the weekend knowing that I was third in the Championship, it gave me confidence that I had the pace to hold onto that position,” Stewart said.
“Even though I was disappointed with my results in the opening race, I knew I still had a good chance and managed to work my way up through half the field.
“This weekend was so tough, especially after race one and needing to be so careful to preserve my championship, so I’m super stoked and relieved to have finished third.”
Finishing the year just behind Stewart in fourth, Sweeny’s results consistently improved across the weekend securing a P6, P5 and P3 finish across the weekend.
“Even though I qualified further down than I would have liked, I was really confident in my pace and definitely showed it during the races,” Sweeny said.
“We had top three pace the whole weekend so where we finished up in that last race is probably where we should have been from the start.
“There had been a bit of a drought since my last podium so it was good to get another one and to finish fourth in the series even with a couple of DNFs felt great.”
Rounding out 5th in the standings, Gray demonstrated top ten pace throughout his Bathurst weekend, finishing P5, P8 and P7 in each of the races.
“It was great to be in the top ten all weekend,” Gray said.
“It’s been coming for a while and I knew the pace was there, I just had to put it all together and it was good to be able to do that at Bathurst.
“It’s been one of the more challenging and competitive years in the category, it’s quite an intense field so to finish inside that top five for the year is really cool.”
With the Toyota 86 season finished for the year, Stewart is a free agent for the remainder of the year and is looking at options for the 2023 season.
Sweeny now turns his full attention to his TCR campaign, meanwhile Gray will make an appearance in V8 SuperUtes at this year’s Gold Coast 500, October 27 – 30.