THERE’S a reason why Reuben Goodall’s breakthrough triumph on Sunday in Perth was extra special.

Not only was the result his first Super2 race win, it represented his first race win in a car altogether.

Goodall came up through the Toyota 86 pathway into Supercars’ official feeder series, via an impressive one-off cameo in V8 SuperUtes.

There was little to write home about from his rookie Super2 campaign in 2024 with Gomersall Motorsport, but a switch to Tickford Autosport allowed him to show what he’s capable of.

The South Australian has been a consistent frontrunner for the past 15 months now, collecting seven top-three finishes in a 14-race span before finally reaching the top step of the rostrum.

“It’s a long time coming,” he smiled.

“I’ve had so many good opportunities all the way from Tassie last year where I also started second. I didn’t get the jump on my teammate, Rylan (Gray) then, and I was really fresh and probably wasn’t quite ready to win a race back then.

“But the last few rounds, to see Campbell (Logan) at the last round and to see Benny (Gomersall) leading at Sydney, it’s like ‘gee when am I going to be that guy that can get the opportunity to do that?’

“Obviously we had a really good car in qualifying and I knew it was probably my best shot today to grab a race win and get that monkey off the back…

“It’s a fantastic feeling to reward the team, reward my family, all my partners and finally get my first race win.

“It’s not only my first win in the Dunlop Series but my first win in my whole car racing career!

“It’s a funny one that all the boys give me crap for 24/7, ‘go win a car race’, so to finally do that after everything I’ve come up through the ranks doing and win a race is really exciting. The boys can’t give me a hard time on that anymore, but I’m sure they’ll work something else out.”

This success, combined with a respectable main game wildcard outing last month in Townsville, is bound to have Goodall riding a wave of confidence into his maiden Supercars enduro campaign alongside Tickford’s Thomas Randle.

Reuben Goodall will co-drive the #55 Castrol Mustang in the enduros. Pic: Supplied/Race Project

“That’s the best opportunity that a young guy like me can hope for, to be racing in the form Super2 team, and to be lining up alongside Thomas as an inexperienced co-driver is a really, really exciting thing for me,” said Goodall.

“To go do that after obviously coming off the wildcard program as well, I feel super prepared and super ready.

“We can see the form those main guys have got at the moment and fingers crossed they can carry that on through QR into Tailem Bend.”

As for the Super2 title fight, he’s now into second at 69 points back from former teammate Lochie Dalton.

“We’re really good mates off the track, but deep down inside it kills me when I hear he’s on pole or winning a race and I’m back in P4,” said Goodall.

“We’ll joke and we’ll laugh about it… but it’s on.”

The next round of Super2 will come in support of the Repco Bathurst 1000, where Goodall is due to be one of six drivers on double duties, joined by Dalton, Bayley Hall, Brad Vaughan, Zak Best and Nash Morris.