'We're the best team': Vaughan fires warning shot at Super2 rivals
Brad Vaughan declares BJR Super2's "best team"
South Australian shares points lead with Lochie Dalton after Round 1
Development series returns to action in Darwin after four-month break
Brad Vaughan isn't shy about it, and the numbers back it up — he has completely turned around Brad Jones Racing's DUNLOP Super2 Series operation within 18 months.
Now, he wants to bring the development series crown back to Albury for the first time since Andrew Jones' 2004 title in the then-Konica Minolta Series.
After outlasting Kai Allen to claim the Super3 crown in 2022, the South Australian showed plenty of speed across two Super2 campaigns with Tickford, but only had one race win to show for it.
Then came a move to BJR last year, complete with an enduro drive. However, it couldn't have got off to a more inconspicuous start with 22nd in the opening race of last year.
Fast forward 12 months, and Vaughan has claimed two race wins, a maiden round win, and a further two podiums. He's currently joint series leader alongside Lochie Dalton after the opening round of the 2026 campaign.
Vaughan's dominant win in the season opener followed up a win in the final race of 2025 in Adelaide. When asked by Supercars.com if carrying momentum was key, Vaughan responded: "Super important, and there was no reason why it couldn't happen.
"We've got the same people, the same crew, same mechanics, same engineers, so it's really just kept building on what we were building last year.
"As I keep telling people, the program hasn't changed from when it was a couple years ago, we've just put a different driver in and some new ideas that I've come with having been at Tickford in the years before that.
"I really just got that team to the next step and I do believe we're the best team in pit lane to take the championship, so we've just got to make it happen now."
After the opening round, Vaughan and new BJR teammate Matt Hillyer are the only two Holdens inside the top 10, carrying on the 2025 trend of the Ford Mustang being the dominant package.
Vaughan also continued his trend of being the lead Holden, having beaten the likes of a factory Triple Eight program and 2024 champion Zach Bates at Eggleston Motorsport.
Such has been the turnaround in fortunes, that Vaughan believes he has dragged the team to results that exceed expectations, especially against the might of Tickford's four-car superteam.
"We've really been getting somewhere with the Brad Jones car and our whole Super2 program has come a long way to be leading Holden team," Vaughan said.
"If you look in the top 10 of the Super2 championship, there's only two Holdens in there, and they're both Brad Jones cars, so I feel like we're really punching above our weight.
"We got there towards the end of last year, won the Adelaide round, and then to tie for the win for the Sydney round. we're on a bit of a roll.
"I've just got to keep that going and it gets pretty busy the second half of the year so it'll come around pretty quick."
A step into the unknown awaits in Darwin, which will host it's first-ever DUNLOP Super2 Series round next weekend, headlining the support bill at the betr Darwin Triple Crown from June 19-21. Tickets are on sale now.
