Season in Review: Jason Bright

Jason Bright may already be focused on 2016, but with a couple of podium finishes during the year, there were some positives for the veteran racer.

Bright not only finished third at the final round of the year, but celebrated his 50th podium in V8 Supercars with that result.

He featured strongly at Sydney Motorsport Park mid-year, and believes more results like those are on the cards for the coming season.

He reflected with v8supercars.com.au.

Best race of the year?

“I felt like probably the first race at Homebush there where we finished third.

“I felt like we got on top of things quite a bit that weekend and was pretty happy the way that race unfolded.”

Most disappointing race of the year?

“New Zealand – Jason Richards Trophy weekend. That weekend just didn’t go to plan. We didn’t have the pace we had there the last couple of years, so it was pretty disappointing to come up short.”

Best on-track battle with another driver?

“That’s a hard one.” 

Any with Garth Tander, you guys often have close battles and raced hard in Sydney?

“Phillip Island we went three or four corners side-by-side on the start finish straight.”

Best off-track memory or experience?

“There’s a guy who comes to Homebush every year with his family, Chris Starkey who is in a wheelchair. And it’s always pretty special seeing how excited he is each year getting to that race. He’s always dressed in all the gear – we’ve given him a bit of merchandise each year – and the excitement you see through him each round is pretty special.”

The best performance by another driver?

“That’s a hard one, because I can’t say I’ve watched all the races back this year.

“I felt like Frosty at Homebush – with a fair bit of pressure on him and a lot of people saying that he was tightening up obviously – had a pretty difficult start to the weekend. But when he snagged pole … that was a pretty good way to cement the year that he had. Whereas the previous few rounds he had struggled, and he didn’t have an easy start to that weekend, so I thought that he clawed back a fair bit of respect from everyone by getting pole for that race.”

What was your goal at the start of the season and how did that play out?

“The goal was certainly to score a few race wins and podiums, and hopefully finish inside the top 10 at the end of the year, but obviously we didn’t feel like we achieved that at all. Certainly we had quite a few changes coming into the year and it took a lot longer I felt to find our feet there. It was only the last couple of rounds I felt – I didn’t feel like we got on top of some of the problems earlier as quickly as I should. We probably had too many changes coming into the year."

What was the team’s biggest achievement?

“I think Bathurst we had very good pace again, in qualifying trim we were very strong. Fabs [Fabian Coulthard] was quickest in the qualifying session from what I remember, and we obviously qualified third, so pretty happy with our pace there in qualifying trim. It’s obviously the most important race of the year – we just didn’t have the race pace, unfortunately.”

Biggest news story or shock announcement of the year?

“I think the biggest new story was probably Chaz’s crash at Bathurst. That was huge – huge a championship contender sustained such big injuries, but it was such a spectacular crash as well.”

Who will improve the most in 2016?

“I think we will! After a pretty tough year! I hope we will see quite a bit of improvement out of car 8.

“With all the changes in the Championship, it’ll be interesting to see who does improve and who doesn’t improve, so it’s always interesting when there’s so many driver and team changes.

“There are so many changes, it’s hard to say who will move forward – but we can certainly do a better job next year, so I’d like to think we’ll move over quite a bit.”

What are you most looking forward to in 2016 season?

“I’m looking forward to the same challenges as every year – looking forward to a couple of new teammates and looking forward to seeing how all the driver changes pan out and seeing where everyone sits. I think that’s always very interesting when there is some change – and there’s been so much change coming into next year, it’s interesting to see who comes out of it looking good and who comes out with egg on their face.”  

**The numbers:

**Championship position: 16thPoints: 1671Penalty: 75Race wins: None. Best finishes third at Sydney Motorsport Park and Homebush. ARMOR ALL Pole Positions: None. Best qualifying third at Bathurst.Average qualifying position: 13.3Average finishing position: 14.7.