By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE promising elite motorsport career of Upper Beaconsfield young gun Jack Le Brocq just continues to go from strength to strength, with a season-best Dunlop Series round result at Queensland Raceway recently.
The Erebus Academy driver claimed an impressive eighth overall result in the V8 Supercars’ second tier, finishing sixth in Race 1 and seventh in Race 2.
The Image Racing driver clearly had a standout weekend in his number-10 FG Ford Falcon.
“It was great to finish in the top 10 for the round, with two top 10 race finishes, which was our aim coming into this weekend,” Le Brocq said.
“We made it through unscathed this weekend too, so that’s really positive for us as well.”
After starting the weekend’s second race from fifth on the grid, Le Brocq lost three places on the opening two laps, however a crucial pass on lap 17 pushed him back up to seventh position.
“At turn three Jacobson ran a bit wide and I got a run on him out of turn three, and I got past him,” Le Brocq explained.
“After that I got up to sixth at one point, and I had good speed during that middle part of the race, but unfortunately I didn’t have the tyre life at the end and Jacobson got back past me on lap 25.”
The weekend produced the last of the reverse grid races for the season, with only two rounds remaining in the Dunlop Series for the year.
“To be honest, I probably won’t miss the reverse grids – I prefer having two separate qualifying sessions, and not have the slower guys at the front,” Le Brocq admitted.
“The reverse grid races tend to produce carnage, and actually I was a bit surprised that there wasn’t more in today’s race.”
But the youngster’s season-best round result has left him feeling confident heading into the next round at Bathurst, where he finished on the podium in the Erebus Motorsport SLS AMG GT3 Mercedes earlier this year.
The Saturday race at ‘The Mountain’ will be run over 250 kilometres and will include pit stops for the Dunlop Series field.
“I’m really looking forward to Bathurst as it’s such a great event and a good chance for us young Dunlop Series drivers to get used to what it’s like to double stint in a Supercar, like we would in an enduro (endurance) drive,” Le Brocq said.
“Hopefully I can make the most of my experience of racing there with Erebus Motorsport GT in the 12-hour race back in February.
“This weekend at Queensland Raceway has been a great way to lead up to Bathurst in a few months… hopefully we can test before then and improve the car and my driving even further.”
