Early-year V8 laps to boost Gomersall's surprise title challenge

Ben Gomersall is looking to build on his strong start to the 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series which has seen him emerge as a surprise championship contender.

Graduating from a consistent season in the Toyota GR Cup last year, Gomersall entered Super2 with a returning Triple Eight outfit and a highly rated teammate in Jackson Walls.

However, few could've expected what 18-year-old Gomersall produced in his first Super2 weekend, claiming rookie of the round honours and third overall for the round, highlighted by a best finish of third on Sunday.

"It was a bit of a dream start wasn't it?" Gomersall told Supercars.com.

"The team at Triple Eight have been amazing so far this year, and given me everything I need to get up to speed and achieve good results.

"Hopefully we can take that momentum into the second round in Tassie and have a nice clean run."

Even the Queenslander himself was surprised at the result, admitting that he had no expectations of taking home silverware from Round 1 in Sydney.

"To be honest, no," he replied, when asked if he thought he could bring home a first-up podium.

"We tested there the week before and it all felt pretty good, but obviously Super2 is a really competitive category across the years, so I didn't think I would be right on the ball that quickly, so to get up to speed that fast is really cool."

Entering Round 2 of the 2025 season, Gomersall will return to familiar territory, set to make his second appearance at Symmons Plains in the space of eight weeks.

Gomersall was one of a handful of Super2 drivers to compete in the opening round of the Trans Am Series in Tasmania last month, alongside Nash Morris and Jarrod Hughes.

"Those laps can't be understated, the importance of them. Just the laps we did last month, I learnt so much about the track, and it is obviously very different to Sydney," he said.

"There is a lot more emphasis on the braking zones there, with the hairpin being one of the slowest corners in the country, so that braking technique becomes really important.

"We've been doing a bit of work on that and hopefully we can really master that next round."

Moving from one V8-powered machine to another for his second experience in Launceston, Gomersall says that there were several key learnings that he will aim to apply next weekend, even if the cars aren't identical.

"There are quite a few differences, obviously sitting on the left-hand side and the tyre is very different, but I think the braking markers will be pretty similar more or less," he said.

"The top speed is not quite as high, but the lateral grip as well should be relatively similar through a lot of the slow corners as well."

Gomersall is just 15 points behind series leader Jordyn Sinni, and nine points behind second placed Cameron McLeod, both of whom have never raced at Symmons Plains in any category.

Despite his upper hand in track knowledge, the teenager is downplaying any chances of a potential challenge for the Super2 crown at this early stage of the season.

"It's tough, it's easy to look far ahead at the big picture and, but I think we just try and take it one weekend at a time, it's still a long year," he said.

"It's still five rounds to go right now, so there's still a lot that can happen, but we'll just slowly chip away and get through Tassie, see how we end up and really progress from there."

Gomersall also has one eye on the all-new Boost Mobile Top Five Shootout, which will decide the first five positions on the grid for Race 4 on Sunday.

"It's really cool that they've given us the opportunity to do something like that.

"I think first of all we just try and get through Saturday cleanly and then worry about Sunday, but if we have the pace and we put a good lap together, I think we can definitely be eyeing off something like that."

Round 2 of the 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series will be held at the Snowy River Caravans Tasmania Super 440 from May 9-11. Tickets for the event are on sale now.