DICK Johnson Racing remains convinced recruit Rylan Gray is ticking all the right boxes in his rookie Supercars season.

DJR team manager Tom Moore spoke with conviction that the 19-year-old is progressing well – certainly far better than 21st in the championship might suggest.

Making matters worse from an optics standpoint was that Gray was outqualified (13th versus 16th) and beaten over race distance (12th versus 17th) by supersub Todd Hazelwood on the Sunday of the Darwin Triple Crown.

That prompted some social media reaction along the lines of Hazelwood being touted as a better choice to be Brodie Kostecki’s teammate, but Moore today jumped to the #38 driver’s defence armed with some valuable context.

“Rylan was top five or six for three of those four (qualifying) runs and we were really like ‘yep, this is a shoo-in for the Shootout here’ and unfortunately he just made a mistake on that last run at Turn 1,” Moore explained.

Dick Johnson and Rylan Gray with the Minions & Monsters Bag Buddy collectibles that have inspired the team’s Townsville livery. Pic: Supplied

“So internally, it didn’t look like what it looked like on the outside, and that’s sort of the benchmark that we’re tracking how his qualifying performance has been going, because we know that’s the hardest part of our category.

“It was quite a juxtaposition between the two: younger driver, older driver.

“Rylan was quite a bit quicker than Todd throughout most of those runs and made a mistake unfortunately at the wrong time; Todd was sort of building himself up to it and more consistent with pace that wasn’t quite as fast as Rylan for most of the session.

“I know on paper it looked like he sort of outperformed him in that regard, and Rylan certainly felt that – he got out and went ‘wow, this looks really bad for me’.

“But there’s no pressure from our point of view. We’re still very happy with where he is. He’s meeting all our expectations.”

DJR fans are renowned for demanding top results, with Moore noting that Gray is regularly reassured of his high regard within the four walls at Stapylton.

Shell V-Power Fords have won in two of the past three visits to Townsville, via Anton De Pasquale in 2023 and Kostecki last year.

This weekend’s Supercars track action commences with Friday practice from 10:35am.

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