News TRT Media Release September 10, 2024 (Comments off) (102)

Robotham’s Sandown Return After Asian Triple Duty

A busy season of racing in Australia and across Asia has Jay Robotham primed for his third endurance race campaign in the Repco Supercars Championship, with the 21-year-old pairing with Brad Jones Racing’s Bryce Fullwood starting at this weekend’s Sandown 500.

To date this year, Robotham has stayed sharp with multiple programs, including in the Thai Super Series for Corliss Race Engineering (CRE), where he has campaigned both the Super Pickup class aboard a Ford Ranger, plus the GTM Championship with a MARC Mustang.

Elsewhere abroad, Robotham has taken in three rounds of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia series at the Sepang International Circuit, the Chang International Circuit and Fuji International Speedway.

Driving a Mercedes-AMG for Climax Racing, Robotham has impressed with his pace against the professional class drivers in his first foray into sportscar racing.

Following a two-day test in the Middy’s Racing machine, Robotham seeks to take advantage of his previous Supercars experience earned alongside Cameron Hill in 2023 and Matt Chahda in 2022.

“After our test at Winton, I can’t wait to get back to Sandown and Bathurst,” said Robotham.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been behind the wheel of a Supercar, but the Brad Jones Racing crew are great to get along with, and things were really comfortable during the test.

“Last time out in Tassie, they clearly struck on a good setup direction to get Bryce onto the podium, so it shows the team’s potential.

“Obviously, in the enduros there’s an emphasis on good race pace across longer stints, and it was something we focused on at the test.

“Bryce and I are similar in size and height, so that should make things fairly simple in the driver changes.”

Last weekend at Sepang in Malaysia, paired with CRE team principal Craig Corliss, Robotham registered results of second and fourth from the day-night meet aboard the squad’s MARC Mustang.

“It’s hard to believe how busy this season has turned out!” Said Robotham.

“Between three different classes in Asia and some other racing here in Australia, it’s been great to keep my hand in and continue to learn across a range of cars.

“Obviously, there are some pretty big differences between the Ranger pickup, the MARC Car and the AMG GT3, but it all adds together to keep me sharp for the Supercar.

“Also, it’s been fun to get involved with a lot of testing over there and help develop the different packages.

“It has been a pretty big change this year to base myself overseas, away from home and solely concentrate on racing.

“The opportunities that have been made available to me have been great, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”

Robotham has a grounding in Super2, Super3, Trans-Am, Production Cars, Toyota 86s, and Excel Racing, a class where he still competes, having cleaned up in the opening two rounds of this year’s Lanotec Victorian Hyundai Excel Championship.

Despite missing the two most recent events due to overseas commitments, he remains third in the standings with two rounds remaining.

Elsewhere, Robotham was also a starter in the Bathurst 6 Hour aboard a Toyota 86, providing more valuable miles at Mount Panorama.

In other news, Robotham has re-signed as a brand ambassador with Lanotec, the Australian-made leader in high-performance multi-purpose lubricants and protectants, which has supported his international racing exploits over the past two seasons.

For both Sandown and Bathurst, the Middy’s Racing Chevrolet Camaro will carry Lanotec’s familiar green branding on its headlights.

The Sandown 500 kicks off with practice on Friday, ahead of Saturday qualifying and Sunday’s main race, while the Repco Bathurst 1000 is scheduled for October 10-13.

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