Evans' flying visit to Spa-Francorchamps
Supercars
23 May
Jaxon Evans jetted off to Belgium from Perth
BJR rookie took part in Spa 24 Hour prologue
Evans to race at The Bend before Darwin Triple Crown
Jaxon Evans had little time to take in his first Perth Supercars round, with the Brad Jones Racing rookie jetting off to Belgium.
The New Zealander has entered in this year’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, with Porsche squad Phantom Global Racing.
Evans flew out to Europe on Sunday night, and joined the team for two days of running at the official Prologue, where 64 cars were on track at the iconic Spa circuit.
The Prologue launched the final countdown to the centenary race, which will be held next month between the Darwin and Townsville Supercars rounds.
A busy testing schedule saw 16 hours of running spread across four sessions, with Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed driver Fabian Schiller posting the fastest time on Thursday morning (AEST).
Schiller clocked a 2:17.405s on a day dominated by Mercedes-AMG. A day earlier, 2024 Repco Bathurst 12 Hour pole-sitter Dries Vanthoor clocked a 2:18.091s in his #32 Team WRT BMW in the morning session.
As conditions improved on Tuesday afternoon, three-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner Jules Gounon lowered the Prologue benchmark to 2:17.965s, in Schiller’s car.
The 2024 grid features nine brands, each represented by at least one Pro car. The field is led by 24 Pro line-ups, 22 Bronze Cup entries, six Gold Cup entries, 10 in Silver Cup, and five in Pro-Am.
The Evans Porsche (pictured above, courtesy of Phanton Global Racing) was 17th and sixth in the two Tuesday sessions, and 49th and 32nd on Wednesday.
It doesn't stop there for Evans, who will arrive back in Australia before heading to The Bend for Round 2 of GT World Challenge Australia.
Before Perth, he raced in Thailand last week, and will get behind the wheel of his BJR Camaro at a scheduled rookie day test at Queensland Raceway before the next round in Perth.
“I’ve got a lot to look forward to and a lot of things going on,” said Evans, who finished 18th in both Perth races.
“My world doesn’t really stop for me and it’s pretty exciting. I’ve got a two-day test at Spa before re-grouping with the Arise Racing GT crew for Fanatec GT Australia.
"It’ll be good to get to The Bend to re-join the team. Hopefully we can taste some success in the Ferrari again.
“It’s really good to have such a busy schedule and I feel it’s the best form of training. Not only in physical training, but being able to adapt and manage tyres, driving all these different cars means I experience the different characteristics. They’re a challenge in their own right, but I quite enjoy swapping in between.
“Any race miles are good miles. I’m just happy to keep myself busy.”
