Gearbox gremlin curtails Practice 1 for Evans

Jaxon Evans has had a frustrating start to his maiden Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 weekend after being sidelined from Practice 1 with a strange gearbox issue.

Rolling out from pit lane to begin the opening 40-minute practice session of the weekend, Evans suffered a bizarre issue when in trying to select fourth gear, a higher gear was instead selected.

Although the BJR crew attempted a fix, the issue was not resolved, with the 28-year-old resigned to spending the rest of the session in pit lane having not been able to set a representative lap time.

This weekend is Evans' first visit to Surfers Paradise since 2018, when he wrapped up that year's Porsche Carrera Cup title for McElrea Racing.

Speaking on the broadcast, Evans was disappointed to miss crucial track time to get himself up to speed in a Supercar on the unforgiving Gold Coast streets.

"Obviously a frustrating start to the weekend," said the Kiwi.

"We just rolled out and we seemed to have a bit of an issue with the gearbox, so when I'm pulling what I'd like to be fourth gear it's pulling a gear higher.

"It's an issue that we can't fix during the session, so obviously not the ideal start to our weekend, especially considering it's my first time here in a Supercar.

"We thought it might've been one thing, tried to fix that, but it wasn't the case, so I think the boys will be busy between the two sessions.

"Hopefully it will be rectified, and we can go back to learning in Practice 2 this afternoon."

Cam Waters set the fastest time in the opening session, whilst Evans' BJR stablemate Andre Heimgartner also impressed to finish behind Waters in second.

Practice 2 at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 begins at 3:35pm local time/4:35pm AEDT. Tickets for the event are on sale now.