Brad Jones Racing
 | |
| Manufacturer | Holden |
|---|---|
| Team Principal |
Brad Jones Kim Jones |
| Team Manager | Chris Clark |
| Race Drivers |
8. Jason Bright 14. Fabian Coulthard 21. Dale Wood (Customer car) 20. Andrew Jones (Development Series) 42. Chris Pither (Development Series) |
| Chassis |
Holden VF Commodore (International V8) Holden VE Commodore (Dunlop Series) |
| Debut | 2000 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Round wins | 2 |
| Race wins | 7 |
| Pole positions | 6 |
| 2013 position | 3rd (4,927 points) |
Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team centred on brothers Kim and Brad Jones and is based in Albury, New South Wales. Presently the team compete in the V8 Supercar Series, which they joined in 2000. Recently they have also returned to the Australian Formula Ford Championship where Brad and Kim began their careers. The team and its personnel have a strong connection to the district of Albury-Wodonga[1] and are both the only rurally based V8 Supercar team and the last team in the International Championship to still be based in New South Wales. The Teams current drivers are Jason Bright, Fabian Coulthard and Dale Wood.
History
Brad Jones Racing began as a Formula Ford team in which both Brad and Kim raced. Kim stopped racing relatively early, partially in recognition of Brad's ability as a driver with Kim becoming team manager. The team's peak in open wheel racing came in 1981 when running an Elwyn chassis, Brad finished sixth in the Australian Formula Ford Championship. The pair faded as the 1980s developed but after a return via Bryan Thomson's Sports Sedan/GT team led to the Jones brothers becoming involved in the Mitsubishi touring car team known occasionally as Mistubishi Ralliart. Racing with Mitsubishi gave Brad several opportunities to race overseas, racing Starion turbo touring cars in Australia, Japan and across Asia.
Eventually the brothers formed their own team BJ Motorsport to further the Starion touring car operation, qualifying the Starion 10th at the 1986 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst and being fastest on the 1.9 km long Conrod Straight during qualifying at 269 km/h (167 mph). But by the end of 1986 that faded out and Brad Jones become a hired gun driver for other touring car teams. This included running the full 1989 Australian Touring Car season racing a turbocharged Ford Sierra RS500 for Peter Brock's Mobil 1 Racing, and later endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst for the Holden Racing Team and Wayne Gardner Racing driving a variety of V8 Holden Commodore's.
AUSCAR
A way forward emerged with the creation of NASCAR racing in Australia with the newly redeveloped Brad Jones Racing one of the first teams involved in the fledging stock car series running Holden Commodore's. Initially BJR raced only in AUSCAR, the second-tier series where they quickly grew to become the dominant team in the series, winning five consecutive titles from 1990 to 1994. Occasional forays into NASCAR blosomed into a full NASCAR campaign in the 1994/95 season and the team were rewarded with a sixth consecutive title.
Super Touring
After running a Super Production Car Lotus Esprit to another title victory in 1994, BJR moved away from the fading Superspeedway scene into circuit racing and in 1995 entered the Australian Super Touring series as the official Audi team in the series, fielding a pair of Audi A4 quattro's for himself and Greg Murphy. The team then spent the next five years swapping titles with Paul Morris Motorsport, the official BMW team, with Jones winning the championship in 1996 and 1998. Murphy and later Cameron McConville (who replaced Murphy in 1997 after the Kiwi had joined the Holden Racing Team in the ATCC) won many races during the six-year period when Super Touring was at its peak.
During this time Brad Jones Racing twice finished on the podium in the two Bathurst 1000 races held for Super Touring cars. Jones himself finished second in 1997 with German Audi driver Frank Biela, and third in 1998 with McConville.
V8 Supercar
Debut in V8 Supercars
The team entered the V8 series in 2000 after purchasing an AU Ford Falcon and franchise from Tony Longhurst. Running as a one car team in 2000 and 2001 with major sponsor OzEmail and driver Brad Jones, the team achieved modest results, highlighted by second place in the 2001 Bathurst 1000 where Jones partnered John Cleland.
From 2002 to 2004, with continued sponsorship from OzEmail, BJR expanded their operation to two cars, with former ATCC champion John Bowe joining the team from Briggs Motor Sport. Performance at Bathurst continued to be strong, Bowe qualifying 2nd in 2002 and 2003, and the Bowe-Jones combination finishing 3rd in 2004. However, this pace could not be found at all rounds of the championship, and OzEmail left the team at the conclusion of the 2004 series.
In 2005, BJR was parented by gas giant, BOC and was renamed as Team BOC. They got their first win at the Australian Grand Prix (Non- Championship) courtesy of Bowe in race 2, but success in the following championship rounds eluded them. A low for the year came at the Bathurst 1000 when Jones was caught up in a lap 1 accident with Garth Tander and Greg Ritter. When the car was being repaired, Jones sat in the car, utterly shattered and visibly upset.
The team started 2006 rejuvenated, after a disappointing 2005 season with a bold, new livery and a partnership with championship winning team Stone Brothers Racing with BJR using SBR engines. The season was marred with bad luck, with the new spec SBR engines power not suiting the BJR engineered chassis and one of the co-drivers for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000, Mark Porter, died while racing in the development series.
In 2007, Brad's nephew and Kim's son Andrew Jones replaced John Bowe. Once again, the team struggled on in the early stage of this season and Brad Jones publicly announced his retirement on Seven breakfast show, Sunrise. Team BOC drafted 2001 Development Series champion Simon Wills to drive the now vacated #14 BF Falcon at round 4 at Winton. The season had another bad season, with less than pleasing results and at the biggest race of the year, Bathurst, both cars failed to finish with car #14 crashing heavily in qualifying and car #12 having an engine fire.
Move To Holden
In 2008 Brad Jones Racing decided it was time for a change after finishing the 2007 teams championship in last position, behind numerous single car operations. They made the decision to change their manufacturer from their long standing association Ford to the rival Holden. They bought two Holden V8 Supercars previously campaigned successfully by the Holden Racing Team and now use Walkinshaw Performance built engines in their cars.
With new cars there was also the confirmation of a new driver on the team. Cameron McConville was also confirmed as the driver of Car #14 in 2008, also with the addition of a new title sponsor for Car #14, Wow Sight and Sound. McConville returned to the team, having spent two seasons with BJR in the late nineties, driving an Audi in the Australian Super Touring Championship. He was also reunited with his old engineer Wally Storey, whom he worked with at one of his previous teams, the Lansvale Racing Team. He celebrated his return to the team with a third place at the 2008 Clipsal 500. In 2009 Jason Richards joined the team replacing Andrew Jones in the BOC Commodore using a new number, #8.
For 2010, the team still used Walkinshaw Built chassis, with the team acquiring a new chassis for the expansion into three cars. Jason Bright joined the team as the new #14 Driver, Replacing Cameron McConville with new sponsorship from Trading Post. Bright also brought his Britek Motorsport license to the team, for the expansion. Karl Reindler joined the team in the #21 Fair Dinkum Sheds Commodore. Richards remained in the #8 BOC Gases Commodore. The team's endurance drivers were Andrew Jones in #8, Matt Halliday in #14 and David Wall in #21. For the Phillip Island round, Bright debuted a brand new Chassis, also constructed by the BJR team. Fabrizio Giovanardi and Alain Menu were the international enduro drivers for October's Gold Coast 600, with Giovandari with Reindler in #21 and Menu with Bright in #14. After the Symmons Plains event in Tasmania, Jason Richards was diagnosed with stomach cancer and couldn't compete in the final two events of 2010. Enduro driver Andrew Jones replaced him for final two events of 2010 in #8 BOC Gases Commodore. After the Sydney 500, sponsor Trading Post announced that they were not continuing with Brad Jones Racing.
For the 2011 season, Jason Bargwanna joined the team, Moving from Kelly Racing. Jason Bright moved across into the #8 BOC Gases Commodore, due to Richards being unable to drive. Reindler remained it the #21 Fair Dinkum Sheds Commodore, with Bargwanna driving the #14 Jana Living Commodore, ROCK energy drinks was poised to be the sponsor of #14 for 2011, but went into administration preseason. Jason Bright won the team's first V8 Supercar race, winning Race 8 in Perth, this was then backed up by another win at Winton. the Endurance drivers were Andrew Jones in #8, Shane Price in #14, and David Wall in #21. Fabrizio Giovanardi, Allan Simonsen and Stéphane Sarrazin were the international enduro drivers for October's Gold Coast 600, with Giovandari with Reindler in #21 and Simonsen with Bargwanna in #14 and Sarrazin with Bright in #8. The 2011 season ended on a sad note, with Jason Richards losing his battle with cancer.
For 2012, Fabian Coulthard and David Wall will join the team, replacing Bargwanna and Reindler. a new sponsor for both #14 and #21 were found, with Wilson Security replacing Fair Dinkum Sheds and Lockwood replacing Jana Living. Wall would drive the #21 Wilson Security Commodore, with Coulthard in #14 Lockwood Commodore.
All three drivers remained with the team for 2013. For the new season, BJR reverted to building their own Chassis.
Brad Jones Racing alumni
Brad Jones
Nathan Pretty
Matthew Coleman
Greg Murphy
Tamara Vidali*
Frank Biela*
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Jean-François Hemroulle*
Paul Morris*
Paul Radisich*
Tomas Mezera*
John Cleland*
John Bowe
Tim Leahey*
Andrew Jones
Dale Brede
Chris Pither
Mark Porter*
Michael Caruso*
Simon Wills
Christian Murchison*
Damien White*
Cameron McConville
Jason Bright
David Wall
Fabian Coulthard
Jason Richards
Chris Pither*
David Besnard*
* Endurance race co-drive only
References
External links
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