BJR race-winning Commodore set for UK move

English Holden Supercars enthusiast Alex Sidwell is preparing to take delivery of his latest acquisition, a race-winning ZB Commodore.

Sidwell has secured Brad Jones Racing’s chassis BJR 007, which raced less than a fortnight ago at the Adelaide 500.

The Holden Racing UK operator in August took possession of his seventh Supercar, a Garry Rogers Motorsport chassis which contested just one Repco Supercars Championship round.

Also in his collection is BJR 001 – a multiple race winner in the hands of Jason Bright.

There’s no exact timeframe just yet on when his newest acquisition will make the trip to the United Kingdom.

BJR 007 debuted as a VF in 2016 and was driven to a pair of victories by Tim Slade at Winton that year.

Heimgartner raced BJR 007 in the final six rounds

Slade continued in the car the following season before it was upgraded to ZB specification and used by Macauley Jones for 2018 wildcards and the bulk of the 2019 season.

BJR 007 then sat idle for almost three years as a spare until being called upon following Andre Heimgartner’s startline shunt at The Bend in July.

The Heimgartner/007 combination, which delivered the 2017 Gold Coast podium that reignited the Kiwi’s career, enjoyed more success together in the form of second- and third-place finishes at Pukekohe.

“Alex has been a great customer for a number of years, he has bought a lot of Supercars and loves Holdens, so we struck a deal in the middle of last year where he bought 007,” BJR owner Brad Jones revealed to V8 Sleuth.

“Fortunately for us he didn’t take delivery of it straightaway – we had to get 007 back into action after Tailem Bend so Andre was using it to finish the year off.

“What we’re going to do now is give it a service and get it ready and when Alex is set, we’ll send it off to him.”

As for the other four ZB Commodores raced by BJR this year, at least one will be deployed by the team in the 2023 Dunlop Super2 Series.

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Newcastle next March.

Tickets are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.