Aaron Cameron firms for Blanchard renewal with breakout Gold Coast result
Rising star joined teammate James Courtney in Shootout, finished 10th
Cameron replaced Aaron Love after season opener, now 23rd in standings
Aaron Cameron declared before Bathurst that his mission for the back end of 2025 was to become "hard to sack."
At the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, he took another big step towards achieving that goal.
In another strong weekend for the Blanchard Racing Team, both Cameron and James Courtney showed great speed through the weekend, with the retiring Courtney making both Shootouts and finishing sixth on Saturday.
On Sunday, Cameron joined him in the Shootout, BRT getting both cars into the one-lap dash for the first time since last year's Saturday Shootout in Adelaide.
Cameron improved from provisional eighth to seventh with his lap in the #3 CoolDrive Mustang, but admitted to the Cool Down Lap presented by Moza Racing: "I would've liked a little more grip out there if I'm honest.
"It was fun to get the track to myself, and around here it's just wild, so it's been a great weekend for us."
Cameron held his own across the 85 laps as well, mixing it up with Finals Drivers Ryan Wood, Brodie Kostecki, and Anton De Pasquale throughout the day.
He crossed the line 11th, however when De Pasquale was handed his Finals-ending penalty for tipping Cameron's teammate James Courtney into the wall, the 25-year-old was promoted to his second top 10 finish of the year.
Remarkably, Cameron is now 23rd in the standings despite missing the opening round of the season, moving ahead of the luckless Jaxon Evans on the Gold Coast.
Racing against those with a championship battle to think about posed a unique challenge to Cameron, however the Victorian declared that they were merely another car to pass, dismissing the championship implications.
"I probably don't really, and I don't do anything stupid anyway like hitting someone into a wall, so I wasn't too fussed," Cameron said.
"And especially the guys I was racing the majority of the race like Kostecki, Woody, and not so much Anton, but mainly Woody and Kostecki, they had to win.
"So it wasn't really on my mind at all, but it'll become a bit more if I can keep it up there, just being nice to those guys.
"It'll be nice if we can keep it up there where it's a bit cleaner racing."
There will already be at least one change at BRT next year, with James Golding joining the operation from PremiAir Racing on a multi-year deal.
It's one step in a continued period of growth for the team, with a new headquarters being built for both the team and the CoolDrive business to be housed in, and a potential technical alliance with incoming Ford homologation team Triple Eight.
Cameron was always thought to be likely to retain his seat, with Tim Blanchard going on the record several times throughout the year to back last year's Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner.
Now with a maiden Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout appearance and another top ten finish to his name, Cameron quipped: "Hopefully Tim can add some zeros to the contract and get it signed up, that'll be real nice."