Jones' key 'steps forward' in Sydney opener

Nick Percat was Brad Jones Racing’s shining light in Sydney, but Macauley Jones made key gains.

Jones gained a combined nine positions in the three Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight races, and ended the weekend 17th overall.

The #96 Coca-Cola Commodore pilot matched series leader Shane van Gisbergen’s tally of positions gained across the three races.

James Courtney (Tickford Racing), Tim Slade (Blanchard Racing Team) and David Reynolds (Kelly Grove Racing) all gained a combined seven positions.

Conversely, BJR teammate Todd Hazelwood lost 15 positions in the one race along after he sustained early damage in Race 22.

Jones finished 16th in the three races; he started 20th in Race 20, 18th in Race 21 and 19th in Race 22.

"We opted for the two-tyre strategy for the first race, so I knew that was going to be a little bit difficult to manage,” Jones said.

"I got a good start and got out strong so then just had to manages those tyres as best as we could. That left me with four fresh tyres for the final race to play with.

"There were some epic battles going on at the start of that race, cars going five-wide down the straight.”

After a sterling effort under lights on Saturday, Jones took on two right-hand side tyres and held on.

He dropped to the back of the field in the chaotic start to the finale before fighting his way back up to 18th by lap 5.

He took on four tyres on lap 12, and brought the car home on a day Percat scored the team’s second podium of 2021.

"I feel like we made some great improvement and steps forward moving up three spots on the grid,” Jones said.

"We struggled a little bit in quali, so we’ll work on that before next week.

"I’m pumped to do it all again next weekend and keep pushing forward."

The 2021 Repco Supercars Championship will resume this weekend at the ARMOR ALL Sydney SuperNight.

Tickets for the three upcoming Sydney events are on sale now.