The Motorsport Brief | The Juice, Jayden Ojeda

Welcome to the Motorsport Brief. As the season of endurance gets underway in supercars, there's

a couple of rising stars to watch. Today, we're going to talk to one of them.

Good day, everyone. Rusty here. Shortly to Jaden O'Jader, and I am pleased that we are

finally getting him on the pod for the very first time. The juice, as he's affectionately

known, is doing some great things, both internationally in sports car or GT racing,

but he is back with Walkenshaw and Dredi United and paired with one of the hottest properties

in the pit lane at the moment in Rhinewood. They are a good combo. Now, we've also previewed

the Sunrasia Safari in recent days in another episode of the Shortcast. Dean and Rob Herridge

joined us for that. You can find their feature EPs in our library, but they are

taking Subaru's, including a new WRX, on this gruelling 1200K cross-country rally

on the edge of the desert in New South Wales along parts of the South Australian border.

It is incredible countryside, longest rally of its kind on the Australian motorsport calendar.

There's bikes competing there too and a whole lot more. And also in the field is a former winner

in Tony Quinn in a beast, a Dakar spec VA power at Navara. Now, we know how much all of you

enjoy ATQ catch up. He was in great form. He's in the second half of that

Shortcast with the Herridges. He talks about his grandson Ryder's impressive drive in GT4

last weekend. To our guest today, he has done the hard yards as he, you know, and the climb really

is continuing in many respects. He's shown a level of professionalism that the next wave

of young races could really learn on. He won the GT World Challenge Race last Sunday at

the Bend. He's in good form, going into the 500. Jaden, congratulations and thank you for

joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me on Rusty. I'm looking, looking forward to it.

It was great for Paul Lucitti, who you're paired with and the crew from to Ghani that

first win for Mercedes on Australian soil, if you like, this year. You look like you actively

coach Paul on the run over the course of the race weekend and even during the one hour,

one hour races proper over the radio. Do you do that? And do you enjoy that?

Yeah, obviously awesome to get the win with Paul. Super, super special for him and the team.

Obviously, we won the Sydney three hour last year, but this is our first sprint win together.

And for me, it's been a massive project of mine, obviously now driving for the second year

with Paul. And, you know, for a guy that's very fresh into motorsport, it's just so awesome

to really put your arm around him and sort of nurture him through and to see them get results

like this is obviously super special and it's awesome to be part of projects and especially

when you're getting getting results and seeing improvements that it really makes you appreciate

what you do and like feel very lucky to be a part of it as well. You're with the Mercedes AMG

family nowadays, but you did a bit of coaching for kind of the next generation via motorsport

Australia at Sipang in recent years, laying down benchmark times for the Ferrari Academy

juniors. Tell us about that role and kind of giving back already at such a young age in your

own career. Yeah, coaching for me has been, you know, something I've really done since I was

about 18, even though I was only sort of in Formula Four, Super 3 at that point, I started

coaching already. Initially, it was to make a sort of a quick dollar. Obviously, it's sort of

doing complete university or anything like that. So that's sort of the easiest way I could

sort of get some get some money coming back in that really took to it and really enjoyed it and

just love, you know, love giving back to the sport in whatever way I can and to see people get

success and feel like you're part of someone else's journey is like an awesome rewarding

feeling. So it's definitely something that fills up my cup. The Merck announcement came in

December last year. Tell us kind of about the lead up to that where you found out

and perhaps what really helped get it over the line and secure it. Yeah, the GT stuff

for me has always been something that's definitely taken my interest, but being from Australia,

obviously it's a very far away place from the epicenter of Europe for GT. So sort of bridging

that gap was always quite difficult and it sort of only came about a little bit left field where

I was looking for a program to sort of keep myself busy in 2023 and managed to find my way into

an AMG here in Australia and then sort of met the right people along the way,

you know, a massive influence over me getting the AMG stuff was, is Matthew Harby who I still

work very closely with now and we work together on a lot of the AMGs that I drive throughout the

world. So he was the person that sort of helped me get it all across the line and really teed

it all together. So, you know, it's one of those things that you snort. Sometimes it's not

what you know, it's really who you know and it just shows when, you know, I was bashing

down the door of supercars for so long and trying to make that break. Something that

I was just using as a placeholder really, really took off and really elevated and, you know, along

the way still wasn't, was never easy. Definitely had its difficulties and it was just awesome to

sort of keep pursuing it and keep pushing it. And, you know, I took a real, I backed Matthew

at the end of that 2023 year. He said, look, give me 12 months of trying to make this happen

for you, believe in me and getting you into AMG. And I opted to do that. So passed on a

couple of supercar opportunities there and said, okay, we're going to give this AMG thing a 12

months ago, which was last year in 2024. And by December, obviously got the announcement that

I was an AMG junior. So, you know, 18 months after the first time driving a GT3 car to sign

with Mercedes AMG is an incredible, incredible feeling. And, you know, this year has been

awesome as well. And just really enjoying my racing at the moment.

Great stuff. What's been the highlight for you this year then in that type of racing?

Last weekend was pretty special, you know, like to see, you know, Paul's not one for media and

he's obviously quite shy, but he's a great dude, you know, he's awesome to be around and he's

awesome for our team. And just to just to be a part of something like that and, you know,

something that that he's done all on himself, you know, sure, sure, I gave him the car and

the lead, but the safety car straight after the pitstop sequence, you know,

really nullified that there was no pitstop penalties, whatever. So it was all done

on merit and he had to really gritty his teeth and grind that out. So it was really,

you know, just really rewarding to see that for him and his progression and,

you know, he's joy for the sport. Like he is loving it now more than he ever has,

which is always enjoyable for us and enjoyable for everyone else around him as well.

Yeah, really cool result for all of you collectively. We're in September now.

Is 2026 kind of looking good there on the GT side of things and for more racing abroad?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, all the stuff, same G, this is gone really well. Obviously done

my fair share of stuff here in Australia, but also cross into Asia and being fairly busy and

been doing well there. So for sure, the next step for me is to do more,

more ang stuff, which which is looking promising.

Okay, cool. Is there a little kind of private wish there, mate, that you'd love to,

you know, whether it's a spa or something on the international scene, is there

there something that's on the wish list?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. There's a lot of those bucket list circuits and events that

I'd love to do. Got to drive Suzuki this year, which was an awesome experience, but for sure,

getting to spa and especially spa 24 or all the big 24 hour races is something that's on,

I think everyone, every GT drivers bucket list. So for sure, it's at the top of mine as well.

Good on you. All right, I know I'm very mindful, mate, that there's probably things

in play you've been linked with some things super car wise back home is. So just, I guess,

share what you can, if you can, are things looking good for potential more super cars

appearances in in 26 as well? Yeah, let's see. Ultimately, I just want to sort through the

my ang stuff first, because, you know, obviously, that's a pretty important part of my life at the

moment. So work my way through that obviously got the super car enduro to get through as well

with with woody and walking shore and ready united. So just full focus into into doing my

roles for that team. And then we'll see what the future comes after that.

Cool. We spoke to Ryan walking shore on the pod recently, and he was thrilled

that you were back with WAU. When did that kind of come back on the radar?

Yeah, late last year, you know, sort of had a good run in the in the endurance last year

and was sort of looking at what was possible. And obviously, the the announcement of the Toyota

stuff was was really cool. And obviously, my relationship with walking shore is is pretty

strong. And I've always stayed pretty closely connected to them even after the wildcard. So

it sort of was the right fit for me. And it's it's awesome to sort of join back up with the team.

And it sort of feels like I've never left. Beautiful more with Jaden Ojeda right after this.

This is the motorsport brief on the eve of the Ben 500 and through the eyes in some respects

of a young racer with great ambition in a good car playing an important role to

during the season of endurance back to our chat with Jaden Ojeda now.

Woody, you mentioned a moment ago, ninth in the standings for him, that group around him on the

ladder. They're all in real close company mode. Do you think about that? Or is it just focus on

each race focus on the 500, then focus on Bathurst, so to speak?

Yeah, just play it lap by lap. You know, sure, we're racing a few guys there to make

it into the final spot. But there's a lot of other cars that will be in our race,

no doubt as well. So just take it lap by lap session by session. You know, the biggest thing

obviously there's a lot of points on the table. So just making sure we can get through these two

events with, you know, without without dropping a lot of those points or any sort of silly mistakes,

just executing good weekends. And then the, you know, the rest always will sort of sort

itself out. What's it been like working with Ryan? He's a he's a character and

how do you kind of best fit in there with with he and his team?

Yeah, yeah, it's been good, actually. Both Woody and I, we've stayed on. Obviously,

we both raced against each other this last weekend in the tail and bend in the GTs. So

we stayed on in Adelaide for a few days. And so it's been been fun getting to hang out, talk

about obviously talk shop, but also just just relax and chill out and really just get to

enjoy each other's company. And yeah, it's been been entertaining.

He's been cycling up a storm. I think he got a special present from Ryan Walkenshaw for

some of his results this year, but you enjoy cycling, you know, I think probably in Sydney

and beyond to my tell us about that side of it. Yeah, yeah. When when Woody and I found out we're

going to be driving with each other, we said, oh, let's bring our bikes to tail and bend and

we'll ride for a couple of days in Adelaide. And I held up my side of the bargain, but Woody's

bike seemed to just stay in, stay in Melbourne. Funny how that one worked out, but nah, he's been

right into it ever since. Obviously, he found out he was going to be getting his,

his flash new bike from from the boss. So yeah, it's been good. I love my cycling. It's been

something that I've been right into, you know, just just become the ambassador for the

dementia research community in Sydney who do that Bondi to Berry ride in November. So it's

really, really cool to be part of, you know, sort of mix my passion with something that supports

the good cause as well. So for me, I just enjoy it. It's good. I don't like running. So I guess the

next best thing is riding a bike. Right stuff. I'll get the link off you for that. And we'll

share it in our app description for that event. You've just done two GT races at the bend

last weekend, an hour reach different machinery admittedly. But this is new turf in an

endurance sense, I guess you could say for supercars. What sort of things are going

to be key to a good result in the 530 you reckon? Yeah, it's obviously been a little bit since

supercars have raced at the bend and the first time in an enduro format. So I think a big thing

with tail and bend being such a high speed circuit and obviously quite a big circuit at that

as well, like the cars are super sensitive to any bodywork damage. So just trying to get

through the first parts of the race without copying it here or giving someone a serving

as well, because ultimately that would just you're just going to bleed lap time throughout the day.

So yeah, just staying clear of trouble is probably the big thing. I think it'll be

pretty chaotic. Obviously there's a lot of co-drivers always differing levels of experience,

some veterans, some rookies. And everyone's going to be having a go over, especially

those guys that are on the bubble there for the final trying to make it in. So

yeah, just avoiding the trouble is probably the big thing. And in addition to that,

you know, some chat around rule tweaks for safety car speed zones and so on. I guess that's probably

been a part of a pre-brief conversations with WAU. And do you think fans can expect some,

you know, some good action there? Yeah, yeah, it'll be interesting. Like I'm still

still getting my head across it, obviously working out what the tricks are going to be as we

always are in our sport. But, you know, things like this always make it exciting. It

creates opportunity, creates the chance to do something different and really, you know,

really shake things up. Good on you. I can remember interviewing you many years back.

How tough has the road been for you until, say, the past year, Jayden? And do you feel like you're

kind of finally where you should be now? Yeah, for sure. You know, I think no one's really

ever got an orthodox pathway. But for sure, mine's been done a little bit differently. And

but I wouldn't change it or have it any other way. Ultimately, everything that I've learned.

And I guess the driver I am today is because of all the challenges I've sort of faced and

obstacles I've had to overcome throughout the way. But ultimately, it's been it's been cool.

You know, I've learned a lot. I've matured a lot as a person as well, which I think, you know,

really helped me as of late, you know, deal with challenges and, you know, really deal with

adversity, which is something I guess that's quite quite common in our sport. And at any level,

you're going to you're going to deal with it. So if you if you miss out on it, I guess when

in the younger years of life, you maybe struggle a little bit more coming on later.

So I feel like I'm really prepared for like what's next to come in my career.

You should be really proud, mate, not just in terms of recent results, but the way that you

were just articulated what you did. The win is the dream. What will kind of be the minimum that

you'd like to walk away from the 500 with? Don't know. It's probably look, ultimately,

I want to get Woody into the finals. That's obviously a big objective of him and the team.

So to play my role in achieving that would be would be awesome. But, you know, personally,

I just want to I just want to walk away and feel like I've done my my part and my job and

and feel like I've upheld my end of the deal as such. I'm sure you will.

Been great to get you on and tell a little bit of your story today. Have a fantastic weekend

there in Adelaide. Awesome. Thanks, mate. Woody and the juice, they are worth a follow this

weekend, a combo that could really surprise perhaps more than the odds suggests. Hope the

500 is a cracking race for supercars. Enjoy it, everybody. We will catch you next week.

Bye for now.

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The Motorsport Brief | The Juice, Jayden Ojeda

Subaru WRX

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