Well folks, that’s a wrap on the make-believe stuff!

As much as I’ve loved every second of it – I won’t lie, the last few weeks have been a grind – and now I’m looking forward to steering well clear of the sim and my spare room to focus on my real job, racing the Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Mustang in a few weeks.

Having said that, I do want to commend the guys and girls behind the Supercars All Star Eseries who have done an unbelievable job.

It’s been phenomenal really, while a pandemic has been shutting down the world and pretty much every single sporting competition, we’ve been able to keep racing, keep looking after our sponsors, and perhaps most importantly, keep our fans engaged with weekly events.

We finished on Wednesday night with a doubleheader at Oran Park and Bathurst, which was such a fitting way to end the series.

I was really worried about my pace in practice at Oran Park – I just could not get my head around the place, we were miles off!

So to qualify sixth was a pleasant surprise, and to finish fourth I was thrilled with – it kept the championship alive between Shane van Gisbergen and I right up until the last race. Now, where have we seen that before?!?!

I had higher hopes for Mount Panorama – and we worked our way into contention despite starting 7th.

The whole time I was pushing as hard as possible knowing we needed maximum points, and at the same time had to rely on some misfortune for SVG – but a couple of moments caught me out.

There was a bump with the wall up the top, I T-boned the pit entry which wasn’t my finest moment, and on the final lap, we had more contact and blew up – ending any hopes of a decent finish.

Fabian helped try to push us home before all hell broke loose on Conrod Straight – which I think everyone loved!

It’s not the first time Fabs has barrel rolled in that part of the track!

We were officially classified 22nd, and ended up second to Shane in the inaugural Eseries title.

SVG has been the class of the field all series – I knew he would be – and he deserved to win the championship. He’s just an absolute freak on the sim!

Virtual racing has been such a fun thing to focus on during the past few months – for me, the highlights were being in contention throughout the entire Supercars series, and also the success we had during the IndyCar iRacing Challenge.

To be a Penske driver and to win at Indianapolis was totally cool, and to be the top points scorer in the Indy series is a really awesome thing.

Having said that my wife, Karly, will be most relieved for the sim to sit silent for a while now as we get back in the workshop and get set for SMP at the end of the month.

We all can’t wait to get back racing at the track, it will be just so weird to do it without any fans. I must say I have found it so awkward watching the footy codes back with not a soul in the stands.

It is great to see the boys all back in the shop – I’m looking forward to hopping back in the #17 Mustang again – it feels like an eternity since Albert Park!

I’ll touch base before SMP, but I hope you’re all keeping well.