{"id":529499,"date":"2026-07-16T19:30:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/529499\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T19:30:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:30:28","slug":"supercars-news-fraser-chasing-last-bit-of-the-puzzle-amid-uncertain-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/529499\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Fraser chasing \u2018last bit of the puzzle\u2019 amid uncertain future"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Fraser<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The 25-year-old logged a trio of 21st place finishes in Townsville, as a career-best 11th in Friday qualifying was followed by a pair of back-row starts.<\/p>\n

Team boss Roland Dane bluntly declared the #777 Camaro\u2019s results as \u201cnot good enough\u201d, but denied claims the driver could be replaced mid-season.<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no doubt, though, Fraser is driving for his future, as the team is yet to pick up its option on him for 2027 and is exploring the market.<\/p>\n

Fraser currently sits 18th in the standings, six spots and almost 300 points shy of his rookie teammate Jayden Ojeda, who is locked in for next year.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Queenslander struggled with tyre management in Townsville, but says qualifying has largely been his Achilles heel this season.<\/p>\n

Fraser is in his second full-time Supercars campaign after contesting the 2023 season with Tickford Racing.<\/p>\n

Complete our motor oil survey for your chance to win 1 of 5 Supercheap Auto $100 gift cards.
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\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s qualifying. If we can qualify up there, I feel like in Darwin I had really good long stint pace,\u201d Fraser told Speedcafe.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately [in Darwin] I got turned around in one race, got turned around in another race, so the cards were stacked against us in that sense and not really getting to show our hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like if we just had stayed in those positions, because after the first lap, I was right behind Juice [Ojeda], so I really don\u2019t think there\u2019s that much of a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just got to get that last little bit of the puzzle and it\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Declan Fraser at Queensland Raceway. Image: InSyde Media<\/p>\n

Fraser described the result in Townsville as an outlier, noting that in previous rounds he\u2019d always managed tyre degradation well.<\/p>\n

Tyre life will be a point of focus in Perth, with Wanneroo Raceway characterised by a coarse surface and signature sandy verges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Perth, I\u2019ve been there a few times now, I like going there, it\u2019s a fun track,\u201d Fraser said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be very close in qualifying because there\u2019s not many turns, so there\u2019s not a lot of deviation there and we\u2019re already so close.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think making sure we qualify well and then just managing the deg, I feel all year I\u2019ve done a really good job with the deg in the races.<\/p>\n

\u201cTownsville is an outlier, which is why we need to figure out why it was like that because Darwin, we always came home strong and we\u2019ve always extended our stints because of how good our race pace and deg\u2019s been.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo moving forward, we\u2019ll analyse Townsville, but not let it get to our heads and just go out in Perth and do our thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fraser also hailed the opportunity to turn laps at QR following a Townsville weekend in which he\u2019d complained of steering issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the more laps you can do, the happier you\u2019re going to be,\u201d Fraser added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis day was obviously very beneficial to be able to do it so close to a round, it works out pretty well.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to keep the consistency of being in the car, because I feel like every time I\u2019ve gone out, I\u2019ve learned something new and I\u2019ve implemented it in the next round, as we\u2019ve seen in my qualifying, it\u2019s always taking a step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Supercars Championship returns on July 31-August 2 with the Perth Super440 at Wanneroo Raceway.<\/p>\n

\u2018Not good enough\u2019: Dane searching for answers to Fraser struggle<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 25-year-old logged a trio of 21st place finishes in Townsville, as a career-best 11th in Friday qualifying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[67372,111,139,69,15643,213],"class_list":["post-529499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-declan-fraser","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-premiair-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}