Jarrod Hughes shines on debut on the Gold Coast
Erebus rookie made Shootout, battled for top five all race
Hughes taken out of contention after late pit stop for fuel
Radio issues plagued Jarrod Hughes' standout Sunday on the Gold Coast, which was ultimately undone by an unscheduled third pit stop.
Parachuted in for the final three rounds of the season after a General Motors driver swap, Hughes was a standout for Erebus Motorsport on Sunday, reaching the Shootout before battling big names.
Notably, Hughes challenged — and even made contact with — Ryan Wood, who was fighting to save his season.
Wood was in position to qualify for the Semi Final over Chevrolet star Anton De Pasquale, before the Camaros of Hughes and PremiAir Racing's Cooper Murray were dragged out of the top 10 for a splash-and-dash.
While De Pasquale was the big winner — and the headlines were heading GM's way — Hughes wasn't dimmed by missing out on a solo top 10.
“Holy shit. It was good. We had some really strong pace,” Hughes told Supercars.com.
“If you told me that my debut was gonna have a Top Ten Shootout and running in the top five and in the top 10, I'd be pretty stoked about it.
“Unfortunately it was just a bit of a stuff-up on the fuel, but the boys did an amazing job all weekend to give me a car to be able to do what I did.
“We win together as a team, and we lose together as a team. So we'll go back and look at it, and we'll come back even stronger.”
Hughes played a solo role for Erebus, with Jobe Stewart forced out early with a mechanical problem.
When asked about the call to pit, Hughes revealed it was an abrupt call, such were his radio issues: “Yeah, it was ‘pit now’. Apparently they were telling me for ages to save fuel, but we had no radio the whole race.
“There were a few dramas going on. We didn't get the result we wanted to, but we showed we had some good pace and also didn't let anybody shove me around.”
As for the move on Wood, Hughes said: “I was setting up there but didn't make it up far enough, and gave that one back to him because I fed him pretty hard.
“I had a lot of fun out there, to be honest. Actually, everyone has good respect for each other. You're hitting up pretty hard, but good respect.”
Hughes returns for Sandown on November 6-8.
