HE had pace to burn at the start of the race, played his strategic cards perfectly through the middle of the day, and when Jayden Ojeda was called upon at the end of Sunday's Bathurst 6 Hour he was once again impossible to catch.
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Ojeda and co-driver Simon Hodges celebrated their first Bathurst 6 Hour triumph on the back of a perfect blend of pace and pit strategy with their #21 BMW M4 entry.
![Jayden Ojeda takes the chequered flag in Sunday's Bathurst 6 Hour. Jayden Ojeda takes the chequered flag in Sunday's Bathurst 6 Hour.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/YpbCWLfGAstDHC22gJwdbm/2e1ba6f5-9635-4cbf-aae5-ce850ce18367.JPG/r0_256_2206_1578_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A safety car inside the last five minutes of the race set up a daunting one lap dash to the line for Ojeda but the 23-year-old saw off the challenge from Drew Russell to record a memorable Mount Panorama success.
The safety car may have brought the field back together but it did at least ease some concerns for the Ojeda and Hodges team, who weren't sure whether they had the fuel to get to the finish line.
Russell, along with his brother Aaren and father Wayne, were three seconds behind Ojeda in the runner-up spot.
The team of Anton de Pasquale, Anthony Soole and Adam Burgess were promoted to the podium after original third place finisher Tyler Everingham picked up a 15 second penalty.
Ojeda said his path towards the finish line was a wild experience.
"We had it all thrown at us in that last stint. We collected a bit of damage from one of the lapped cars earlier on, which made it a bit sketchier across the top, and then the safety cars would keep bringing everyone back when I'd get a gap," he said.
"Then with seven minutes to go I had the fuel light come on, so that gave me a fair shock when I saw that on the dash. But I was never going to pit. I didn't care if I stopped on track, I was going to keep driving.
"When we had that one green flag lap I said that there was no way these guys were going to get past me. It was eyes forward and I didn't make a mistake from that point onwards."
Hodges enjoyed a drama-free stint through the middle of the race and was pleased with the performance of the car.
"The guys and girls gave us a really good car. My job in the middle was just to punch out consistent laps and hold track position," he said.
"It was a long stint, at two and a half hours, but the safety cars broke it up for me and it wasn't too bad.
"It was certainly easier than sitting there watching that last hour," he laughed.
It's an especially sweet moment for Ojeda after a couple of tough previous experiences at the event.
"The first time I drove in 6 Hour was in 2019 with a BMW M135i and we got the M4 not long after, and ever since then we've been working and developing," he said.
"I've spent the past three years coaching Simon as well, so I've seen him develop as a driver a lot. It's a long process, and we've had plenty of disappointments here, between the two of us.
"It's a great feeling of redemption and it's right up there, for me."
It was a red flag with just under two and a half hours to go that helped set the stage for an exciting conclusion.
The flag came out to give track officials the time to adequately clean up an oil spill at The Chase, which had caused a large number of cars to take an excursion into the grass.
That flag brought the field all back together in pit lane before they began the two hour run towards the chequered flag.
Former winner Iain Sherrin was running second when rear subframe damage saw him slip back through the field and eventually out of the running.
An exciting battle pack of four soon formed between David Russell, Garth Walden, Thomas Randle and Anton de Pasquale.
Fifth-placed Jayden Ojeda soon made his presence felt when he didn't just join that pack with 80 minutes to go but made his way up into second with a brave overtake out of Forrests Elbow with two wheels on the grass.
Ojeda then jumped into the lead in the next safety car session, with the team taking advantage of having already completed their set of compulsory 90-second pit stops.
The green flag was waved with a little under an hour to go and Ojeda didn't take long to bolt away from the field, just as he'd done during his opening stint earlier in the day.
Several more safety cars would be deployed inside the last hour but quick retrieval work from the trackside crew allowed the field to enjoy a one-lap sprint home under a green flag.
Ojeda once again powered away from Russell to see the chequered flag first.
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