Can Ojeda make Finals? Here's what he thinks

An up-and-down weekend in Perth hasn't diminished Jayden Ojeda's hopes that a Finals berth in his rookie Supercars campaign is on the cards.

Ojeda has been mowing into his gap to 10th over recent months, as he and PremiAir Racing drag big results in their first full season working together.

The 26-year-old has finished no worse than 11th in round points across the four events leading into Perth, but Western Australia was a blip on the radar.

After coming out all guns blazing with strong Friday practice speed, both Ojeda and teammate Declan Fraser struggled with qualifying speed, with Team Principal Roland Dane admitting: “We underperformed in qualifying, frankly."

However, Ojeda made up for it on Sunday with a storming recovery drive. Going somewhat unnoticed while Matt Payne and Broc Feeney duelled for the lead and Kai Allen went from 23rd to fifth, Ojeda turned a start of 20th into a finish of eighth.

Despite dropping behind both Thomas Randle and Andre Heimgartner in the standings, Ojeda's gap to the Finals bubble has remained steady, with Ojeda declaring he's by no means out of the equation.

"It's hard to say. I'm not going to crunch the numbers on it, but it's all still possible," said Ojeda on Supercars' Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast.

"The gap I think for me basically stayed the same, I dropped a couple of spots but the gap to the 10 stays the same, so we'll see.

"Obviously we need to have some good rounds from here on out, and maybe some misfortune for the other guys, but anything is possible. Obviously Bathurst is the deciding factor, and anything can happen there, so we'll just keep chipping away.

"We've got the rookie test coming up for myself at Tailem Bend on Friday, so for sure we learned a lot this weekend that we'll trial and test, and have plenty of ideas to test some things out at the test."

The Ryco Enduro Cup, which follows the Repco Sprint Cup finale in Ipswich, represents Ojeda's big opportunity to jump into the Finals, with 300 points available at each of the long-distance races at The Bend and Bathurst.

Ojeda will not only have the benefit of a rookie test day at the South Australian venue on Friday, but he will also welcome one of the most decorated and experienced co-drivers on the grid in David Russell, a three-time Bathurst podium finisher.

There's an irony in the pair combining, Ojeda having battled with Russell in appalling conditions for the lead at Bathurst last year, in what was Ojeda's breakout enduro campaign with Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Russell, meanwhile, went onto finish third alongside James Golding, the now-Blanchard Racing Team driver having crossed the line first but being penalised after contact with Cooper Murray in the dying laps.

"Between [Ryan] Woody and myself we led the most laps at the 1000 last year, and to get to the lead I had to pass D-Russ, so it's nice to be sharing the car with him," Ojeda said.

"That guy's just got so much experience, and he's always a Bathurst specialist and such a good dude to share the car with. I'm looking forward to having his experience on my team."

Ojeda is 14th in points, but only 132 points behind 10th-placed Jack Le Brocq, ahead of the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440 from August 21-23.

2026 championship progression: Jayden Ojeda