Motorsport: Kiwi Jaxon Evans coming to terms with Supercars switch after Porsche successes

Jaxon Evans at Supercars Melbourne Grand Prix. Photo / Photosport

Former Porsche pilot Jaxon Evans is finding the transition to Supercars “quite challenging” but is determined to master the more agricultural of race cars.

The Kiwi achieved just about everything possible during his time punting Porsche GT cars around the world, winning Porsche Carrera Cup Australia and France, and placing second in the Porsche Supercup and third in the World Endurance Championship GTE Am.

“It’s obviously been a pretty big jump into the deep end, I guess you could say,” Evans said. “Everyone knows what they’re doing and it’s a credit to all the teams and drivers involved.

“I knew it would be quite a challenge and we’re now starting to find our feet. I’m starting to enjoy it more and beginning to understand the car more.

“There’s just so much to learn in such a short time. The rookie title at the beginning of the season didn’t seem appropriate but I feel it might be now [he is best placed of the rookies].

“To most people, if you can race one type of car, racing another can’t be that difficult. Not so. The differences between a Porsche GT and a Supercar are like night and day.

“For a start, one has the engine in the boot, and the other has the engine up front. One has the aerodynamics of a brick, while the other has functioning aero and is more driver-friendly.

“The biggest difference [Porsche v Supercars] is how you get the car to work. How the tyres work is another big difference and I’ve not raced on a Dunlop before either.

“The Porsche, as well as being rear-engined, is a purpose-built race car with a lot more downforce, aerodynamics, traction control and ABS. The Supercar, on the other hand, is very raw.

“There’s nothing to look after you if you get into a bit of a tricky situation. When in it [Supercar], you’ve got whatever you’ve got and nothing really to adjust as you’re going along.

“In the Porsche, you can kind of look after the rear tyre and change how the car feels through the steering wheel [with various control gizmos]. The Supercar is also under-tyred and over-powered.”

Over the opening eight races this season, Evans and his team have steadily improved, with their best result last time out at Taupō. He finished 10th in Saturday’s race and 14th in Sunday’s race.

It’s always a good sign to be on the improve, and the more the 27-year-old gets to grips with the car, the more improvements will follow.

“I’m always excited to go racing and really pleased with our trend of progression being positive and steadily getting better. I’m still finding my feet with these cars and we’ll keep striving to do better each time.”

Evans hasn’t raced at the Wanneroo track on the outskirts of Perth that is hosting this weekend’s round of Supercars but has turned a few laps while testing a GT car. It’s a tricky little circuit at 2.4km and always provides great racing.

“I’ve not raced here before, but with my other commitments [also racing a Ferrari], I’ve done a few practice laps. I enjoyed the track and it’s quite different. I like it, so am looking forward to getting on track this weekend.”

Will Brown leads the championship on 809 points from teammate Broc Feeney (738), with Chaz Mostert third (613). The best of the Kiwis is Richie Stanaway in fourth (520), with Evans 18th (319).