After the disappointment of Bathurst and that work carried out since then🌸 to prepare for Surfers Paradise, the opening race of the V8 Supercar Challenge didn't go to plan for Team BOC with Andrew Jones and Simon Wills both forced out of the first race of the weekend.

For Jones, the race would come to an early end🌸 as he was forced to retire on the opening l♛ap. He made a run on the Falcon of Max Wilson at the end of the back straight, passing the Brazilian but running wide in the process.

On the change of🧸 direction, Jones tried to♎ accelerate hard to build a gap on Wilson, only to have the car snap sideways on him just enough to glance the concrete wall. That damaged the watts linkage in the car and he was unable to continue.

"I was able to hol🐟d my position off the start, so I was reasonably happy with that," he said. "I had more speed than Max so I had a go at passing him just off the back straight, which I made stick, but it put me wide for the next right🅺 hander.

"As I got o🎶n the gas the car stepped sideways on me and just clipped the wall, but it was enough that it bent the diff. Very unfortunate, but we will see what happens tomorrಌow."

Wills made an excellent start, passing several cars on the opening lap.ꦇ He then settled into a rhythm and pushed hard to gain track position on the field as everyone started completing their compulsory tyre stops.

With eight laps gone h♉owever, he started suffering brake problems - a long pedal starting to un-nerve him on the concrete lined circuit. On lap ten, Wills ran wide onto the entry of the back straight, slapping th⛄e wall and doing extensive damage to the front and rear suspension of the #14 Falcon.

"The race was interesting to say the least," he said. "I got a really good start and passed a couple of cars in front of me. I was then just trying to stay out of trouble. As I got through the race, about half distance my brakes were starting to🐟 go and the pedal was starting to go quite long.

"Unfortunately I didn't calculate enough for it heading onto𓄧 the back straight and I just went in a little hot and smacked the wall which broke the watts link so that was the end of the race for us. Hopefully we ca🌳n get on top of the brake problem tonight and have a good day tomorrow."