TRIPLE Eight Supercars rookie Jackson Walls wants to up the ante when the championship crosses the ditch next month.
It was a mixed weekend at Albert Park for the 23-year-old, who struggled in qualifying but recorded a respectable 11th place finish in the Saturday race.
“I feel like we made some big steps during the races and how to race within the championship,” he reflected.
“It’s tough racing against everyone and you have to race hard, but I felt like I made a good step in that direction.”
Now the job is to start higher up the grid.
“Hopefully we can improve and come out stronger in New Zealand,” Walls added.
“The goal there, get closer to the front and out of that mid-to-late pack.
“We’ve seen across two rounds already that if you’re back there things can get pretty ugly.
“If we’ve got a fast car and we’re feeling good, we don’t want to be back in the pack and getting caught up.”
Objective Racing team principal Andrew Jones is sensing an opportunity in NZ, especially at Christchurch for the second leg of the doubleheader.
“We head to New Zealand next with a lot more tools in our toolkit, in working as a group but mainly for Jackson driving the car,” said Jones.
“Excited to get there and do back-to-back weekends, especially that race in Christchurch which is a level playing field for everyone being a new track to the 2026 calendar.”