Nick Percat primed for a podium finish in Supercars at The Bend
It’s said a high-grip track suits the style of Brad Jones Racing race cars, so what The Bend delivers this weekend may make or break Nick Percat’s shot for a podium finish.
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THE high-grip surface at The Bend is expected to boost Nick Percat’s chances of achieving his first Supercars podium for the year this weekend.
The Brad Jones Racing driver currently sits ninth in the championship after finishing the 2018 season in a career-best 10th.
It is Percat’s third season with the team, a year which he said had been more consistent than others.
“It’s definitely a positive,” he said.
“Staying up with the Mustang, that’s the hardest bit.
“As a group, we’re going not too bad.
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“There’s a few things in the pipeline coming that will help me and (teammate Tim Slade) to move more inside the top five, that’s the goal at the moment.”
Percat said his tenure with the team had enabled the crew to understand his style and vice versa.
The 30-year-old also has been receiving driver coaching off-track to hone his craft in a sport in which less than a tenth of a second in lap time can mean the difference between starting a race inside the top 5 or well outside the top 10.
But it is the surface of The Bend’s 4.95km international circuit on which the Supercars will race this weekend that may give his Holden ZB Commodore a boost.
“It’s quite high grip and that generally seems to help a BJR car,” Percat said.
“Hopefully the track still suits our cars.
“I think it is, from all reports, and we can continue on from where we left off last year.”
Percat finished the second race on Sunday in fifth in 2018, 10 positions higher than where he started the race.
“We were pretty fast last year,” he said.
“Overall it’s a fun circuit.
“It’s quite wide and flowing; there’s a lot of opportunities to run off the track and not hit anything.
“At the back of the circuit, the high-speed part, it’s always pretty exciting – the cars move around quite a lot.”
He said it presented good passing opportunities, while the long straight alongside pit lane also gave drivers the chance to slipstream off each other to make a pass.
“The circuit does lend itself to good racing,” Percat said.
“It’s a home race, it’s always good to get back to a home crowd, we’ve got a few more friends and family coming out this year, which is pretty cool.”
Percat is the only one of four South Australians to have a signed contract for next season, making the time at BJR the longest he has spent with any team in top-tier Supercars.
“We did a longer term deal to make sure there was continuity there,” he said.
“Nothing ever happens in one or two years, you’ve got to have a pretty good car around you for that to happen.
“For us, it was a longer term project.
“It’s always nice to know you don’t have to fight for your drive at this time of year.”