Jacobson: Top 15 the goal

Garry Jacobson has set himself a target of consistently running inside the top 15 as the countdown continues to the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’s resumption.

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After a six-year apprenticeship in the Dunlop Super2 Series that included winning the 2016 title, Jacobson finally got a shot at the top level last year via Kelly Racing.

Some flashes of qualifying brilliance eventuated but ultimately he could not better 23rd in the standings before heading to Matt Stone Racing in the summer to become their new lead driver.

With that – and their ZB Commodore package – has come improved opportunity, although the Adelaide season-opener went anything but to plan.

However, 12th at Albert Park in the last qualifying session before racing activities were put on hold showed what is possible in his Yellow Cover-backed #35.

It has him eyeing a permanent step forward, starting with the BP Ultimate Sydney SuperSprint next weekend.

“Top 15 would be the main thing that I would like to achieve this year,” he said.

“And given that the last time I was in the car, we qualified 12th and were very happy about the progress I’ve made in this new car with this new team with a new engineering relationship working with Wes [McDougall].

“So yeah, we’re confident now that we know we can do it with me in the car and we’re looking forward to seeing if we can build on a 12th position and get even further up the front.”

Having impressed in the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries, Jacobson revealed hobbies including mastering acoustic guitar had kept him busy during the break.

“Staying motivated for me was unique. It was a three-month off-season that we never knew we were going to have,” said the 28-year-old.

“There were some hobbies that I’d forgotten about in the past summer break like learning to play an acoustic guitar was quite a new experience for me, just using YouTube to remember what to do and building on those skills.

“Riding a bike has always been something I do if I’m not travelling a lot and that takes a lot of consistency to become good at, cycling with your mates every sunrise at 5:30 in the morning, it’s been great.

“And then everybody keeps fit, we all know that, but you have your gym gear at home and you stay close to your trainer like practising on Zoom how you’re going to prepare for your next training session.

“Spending time with my partner [Naomi], we don’t get to spend as much as time as we would like during the season but the last three months has been good for me, so just been enjoying it and making the most of what we’ve had.”