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Bargwanna impresses in series debut
Jude Bargwanna is enjoying life in a V8 Supercar after dominating on his Kumho V8 Touring Car Series debut, taking part in the third round of the Shannons SpeedSeries at Phillip Island.
The 18-year-old had never stepped foot in a V8 in a competitive setting before Phillip Island’s Friday morning practice session, when he took to the track for the first time as part of the reborn touring car series.
After claiming pole position in a shortened qualifying session, Bargwanna was slow off the line in his first-ever series start as he dropped to third behind Jim Pollicina and Jamie Tilley, however it wasn’t long before he moved back up to second through a brilliant move on the latter.
He further exemplified his undeniable talent with a perfectly executed sweeping move over Pollicina and into the lead the next time around, clearing the way for his first race win.
With his a win on debut in the books, the youngster carried over the momentum into the second race where he dominated from lights out to the chequered flag.
It wasn’t until race three that he showed he was capable of making mistakes – a stall on the line ultimately dropping him to last place.
Having to work his way back through the grid, Bargwanna charged through the field to secure an impressive third-place finish, meaning he had amounted enough points to take outright honours in his debut weekend.
Bargwanna took plenty of positives out of his series debut and credited his round win to the hard work and effort put in by the Anderson Motorsport crew.
“We approached the weekend taking it however it came as it was my debut, but we came to win and we delivered. That’s the goal we set out for the weekend; it feels really good to accomplish that and a lot of hard work went into it,” Bargwanna said.
“Anderson Motorsport are a great bunch of guys and girls, they put down a really good platform for learning in a supercar.
“I really clicked with my engineer who has a lot of experience in the class, he was a big part of helping me put it all together.”
Despite the early mistake in race three, Bargwanna thrived with the opportunity to work his way through the grid from the back and believes plenty of valuable data came from it.
“I was dirty with myself with the mistake in race three but it was the most fun,” Bargwanna added.
“I was able to put the car to its maximum potential and chase the boys and although I finished P3, it didn’t hurt us a whole lot.
“It was a really good experience to chase them down and we got plenty of good data for next round.
“My mindset doesn’t change going forward – we are here to win and we will make sure we are comfortable in the car before Winton.”
The V8 Touring Car Series will next feature at the Winton Raceway as part of the third round of the Shannons SpeedSeries on 9-11 June.