One of Penrith’s rising stars on the race track will tackle the most famous circuit in the country next weekend.
Matt Stone Racing (MSR) has confirmed local resident Jayden Ojeda will co-pilot the #35 Yellow Cover entry with Zane Goddard at this year’s Bathurst 1000.
“I’m thrilled to be teaming up with Zane for Bathurst 1000 in the #35,” Ojeda said.
“It has been a chaotic year so far, so I am looking forward to heading to Bathurst and turning some extra laps.”
MSR team owner Matt Stone expects the youngster to complement Goddard well at Aussie motor sport’s most famous event.
“We have been assessing our co-driver options for a while now and wanted to have a good look at the top Super2 talent as well as some experienced drivers,” Stone said.
“We generally prefer to support the younger drivers but, at the same time, this is Zane’s Championship, so the most important factor is to have a safe pair of hands who understands the role of a co-driver and will work well with Zane and the team.”
At just 22-years-old, Ojeda has made his name known to many in the Supercars paddock. Making headlines in 2020, Ojeda made his Bathurst 1000 debut in a GRM Commodore.
Earlier this year, Ojeda caught everyone’s eye when he put his Dunlop Super2 car on pole position at the opening event of the season in Bathurst. Since then, he has continued to excel in the category with four consecutive top three results, ultimately landing himself with double round podiums across the back-to-back Townsville events.
“After a solid performance in Super2 so far this year, and the advantage of having done his first Bathurst 1000 race last year, we decided that the time was right for Jayden to deliver a solid enduro performance this year with our team,” Stone said.
“To have Jayden join the team and pair up with Zane for the one and only endurance race on the 2021 Repco Supercars Championships calendar is very exciting.”
Bathurst begins November 30.
Nathan Taylor
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender's Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.