'Get a few tips from Pete': Ojeda sledges himself after career best weekend

Jayden Ojeda has whacked himself for a string of poor race starts, despite the PremiAir Racing driver continuing his impressive Supercars trajectory in Tasmania.

The rookie raced from 13th to 10th, 10th to 14th and third to sixth at Symmons Plains, the latter result his best solo finish in Supercars.

However, Ojeda’s woes off the line continued, the #31 PremiAir Camaro amongst the most sluggish as lights have gone out this season.

Ojeda plummeted from third to 10th on the opening lap in Sundays’s finale, but climbed back up the order to finish sixth, more than 20 seconds behind winner Broc Feeney.

The Sydney-born driver poked fun at his starting woes courtesy of team owner Peter Xiberras’ drag racing exploits.

“I might have to get a few tips from Pete on how to launch a big horsepower car, because honestly the starts were what let me down this weekend, which is disappointing,” Ojeda said.

"We did the hard work in qualifying to put ourselves in a good position, but by the end of the opening lap we’d fallen outside the top 10, and that made things pretty tough from there.

“Massive credit to Gilly [Andrew Gilliam, engineer] and the whole team though. The pit stops were super fast, the strategy was really sharp, and they gave me clean air to make the most of the pace we had in the car. Once we got into a rhythm, the car was seriously quick and we were able to fight our way back through to P6.

“To come away with my best Supercars result yet is pretty special, and I’m really stoked with the momentum and progress we’ve made across the weekend. There’s still plenty to work on, but it definitely feels like we’re heading in the right direction and I’m excited to get back out there next round.”

Ojeda continues to creep towards the Finals bubble, and is now 185 points from 10th place. In the span of 10 races, he has moved from 22nd to 14th in the championship.

The 26-year-old sits just eight points behind Thomas Randle, and 62 behind Saturday winner Andre Heimgartner heading to Darwin.