Holiday on hold: Ojeda details whirlwind Sandown call-up

Jayden Ojeda is chomping at the bit to begin his long-awaited full-time Supercars career, as he steps into Richie Stanaway's vacated seat at PremiAir Racing for the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

It's been something of an unconventional path to Supercars for the 26-year-old from Western Sydney, who rose up through the Super3 and Super2 ranks, pushing current championship leader Broc Feeney all the way.

However, whilst Feeney was handed a plum Red Bull Ampol Racing drive after claiming the 2021 Super2 title, Ojeda was forced to ply his trade in first a WAU wildcard, and co-drives with MSR and Erebus.

Ojeda also became a Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver in global GT3 competition, and turned in his finest Supercars performances to date alongside Ryan Wood in this year's Enduro Cup, gapping the field to the tune of 20 seconds in appalling conditions at Bathurst.

The 2020 Super2 Rookie of the Year was duly announced as one half of PremiAir Racing's all-new line-up for 2026 prior to the Gold Coast, however with Stanaway sensationally departing the team following the Gold Coast, Ojeda received a quick-fire call-up.

"I'm super excited, obviously a massive thank you to PremiAir Racing for getting me in for these final two rounds," Ojeda told Supercars.com.

"It's a pretty cool opportunity to just get a headstart really on 2026, and I feel like I've got a bit of a low pressure environment to roll into these final two rounds.

"I'll just roll in, soak it up and learn as much as I can going into next year."

The call came as Ojeda was completing his GT commitments for the season at Hampton Downs near Auckland, as Ojeda secured third in the GT World Challenge Australia standings alongside co-driver Paul Lucchitti.

Such was the short turnaround, that a planned holiday in New Zealand had to be put on hold as Ojeda dashed back to PremiAir's Gold Coast base to get acclimatised to his new home.

"It was pretty quick, I had planned after the final round of GT World Challenge Australia to stay on in New Zealand for the week and had to change some plans around to get to Gold Coast to go do a seat fit and everything," he explained.

"It's been awesome having a few days up in the workshop, just to get acquainted with everything in the car and the people, figuring out all the processes up on the Gold Coast [yesterday] for the prebrief.

"I'm starting to figure out the ins and outs of both the team and the car, the strategy, everything that sort of happens on these weekends, and really just get your head around it.

"Ultimately it won't be this weekend, but at some point I'll have enough knowledge that I can start to have a real influence on the direction that the program heads, and that to me is going to be really exciting moving forward."

A difficult season for the team has been highlighted by a supreme performance for James Golding and David Russell at Bathurst, with the pair nearly pulling off one of the great Bathurst boilovers, finishing third.

It was at Sandown last September where the pair claimed the team's first-ever podium, charging from 13th on the grid to claim the final step on the podium.

It's this form that has Ojeda confident he is stepping into the seat at an opportune moment.

"They've got a good history there at Sandown, and obviously we're a Triple Eight customer team and they've been super strong there for as long as I can remember as well.

"Good confidence that we're rolling out with a strong car and a strong team going into the weekend. Ultimately the best thing to do is just focus on myself, and expecting the most from me and my surroundings, and it'll be good."

On-track action at Sandown begins on Friday.