JAYDEN Ojeda’s early introduction to life as a Repco Supercars Championship full-timer showed there’ll be no messing about in his rookie 2026 season.

Stepping in for Richie Stanaway after the Gold Coast, Ojeda matched up well against PremiAir Racing teammate James Golding through the final two rounds of the year at Sandown and Adelaide.

Noting that most other regulars had an extra 29 qualifying sessions’ worth of experience to count on from this year alone, Ojeda earnt his Camaro starting slots of 21st, 16th, 22nd, 18th and 10th (compared to 17th, 13th, 15th, 24th and 16th for Golding).

The effort to secure a Top 10 Shootout berth for the last day of the Adelaide Grand Final was particularly noteworthy, and something that will generate a stack of momentum for ‘Juice’ to take into the summer.

“The highlight was making the Shootout,” Ojeda reflected.

“It was really cool to be in my first Shootout; it was an awesome experience to get the Adelaide street circuit all to myself.

“The race was a little bit more disappointing, the start was okay but I just pinched the front at Turn 9 and got a really bad flat spot, so we had to pit early and it sort of threw us out of sequence and we just never really had the pace to sort of get us back in the race.

“All in all, it was a positive weekend with plenty learnt, just more preparation for 2026, some good data gathered and now we will go back and work on it in the offseason.”

Adelaide marked Golding’s last round with PremiAir before he heads to the Blanchard Racing Team.

Pic: Supplied

“I just want to take a moment to look back on my time with PremiAir Racing,” he said.

“This team really helped give me my ticket back into the main game, and we’ve achieved a lot together over the last few years – our first top 10, first Shootout, first pole, first podium, and even a Bathurst podium.

“I’m proud of what we’ve built, proud of how far we’ve come, and grateful for the people who’ve been part of it.

“A big thank you as well to Peter and Carmen (Xiberras) for their support and belief in me from day one. It’s been a big chapter, and one I’ll always look back on with a lot of appreciation.”

Declan Fraser, the 2022 Super2 champion, will take Golding’s place.

Other off-season changes at PremiAir include the departure of competition director Ludo Lacroix and the official start of Roland Dane’s tenure as team principal.