Jason Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He drove the No. 56

Ford FG X Falcon The Ford Falcon (FG X) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia. Introduced in 2014, it is a restyled second and final iteration of the seventh generation Falcon FG. While external and drive train changes were significant, the inte ...

for

Britek Motorsport Britek Motorsport was an Australian Supercars motor racing team owned by Bathurst 1000 winning driver Jason Bright. Established in 2005, the team originally ran as an independent team, however since 2010, its only remaining asset has been one ...

, a satellite team of Prodrive Racing Australia, before retiring from full-time racing at the end of the

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Racing career

Australia

Bright started his motor racing career at the age of 15 in 1988 and won the Junior Club Championship at the Gippsland Go-Kart Club. One year later, Bright won the Senior Club Championships. In 1990, Bright was the runner-up in the Victorian Go Karting Championship and he went on to win the championship in 1991. 1992 saw Bright move into single-seaters and into the Victorian

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

Championship and finished fourth and dovetailed this with another go-kart campaign, finishing third overall in Australia. Bright made his debut in the

Australian Formula Ford Championship The Australian Formula Ford Championship is an Australian motor racing competition for drivers of Formula Ford racing cars, held annually since 1970. From 1970 until 1992 it was a national series and from 1993 until 2013 the series was sanctione ...

in 1993, in a factory-backed Spectrum. In the season, he had a best finish of sixth at Symmons Plains, but in the Australian Formula Ford Festival at Winton, he finished second. Bright finished third in the 1994 Australian Formula Ford Championship, behind

Steven Richards Steven James Richards (born 11 July 1972) is a New Zealand-Australian racing driver, currently competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship. Richards, the son of seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Jim Richards, is himself a five-t ...

and Gavin Monaghan. He won the Formula Ford race supporting the

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venu ...

. 1995 was a fantastic season for Bright, winning the Australian Formula Ford Championship, winning the

support race and the

Lexmark Indy 300 The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging track, alongside a strip of beaches, had sever ...

support race. He was also nominated for two major Australian awards. He finished runner-up in the 1996

Australian Drivers' Championship The Australian Drivers' Championship was a motor racing championship contested annually from 1957 to 2014 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category as determined by the Confederation of Australian Motor ...

behind Paul Stokell, winning 3 races. But in 1997, Bright dominated that championship, winning seven races and made his

V8 Supercar The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

debut at

Symmons Plains Symmons Plains Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Australia, located about south of Launceston, Tasmania. Since the closure of the Longford circuit in the 1960s it has been Tasmania's premier motor racing facility. The circuit is one of th ...

, finishing ninth, but better was to come as he finished third in the

Sandown 500 The Sandown 500 (formally known as the Penrite Oil Sandown 500) is an annual endurance motor race which is staged at the Sandown Raceway, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 1964. The event's name, distance – and the category of cars co ...

with Alan Jones but failed to capitalise at Bathurst a few weeks later, finishing eleventh. In 1998, Bright became a full-time touring car driver, joining

Stone Brothers Racing Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the International V8 Supercars Championship between 1998 and 2012. The team was formed in 1998 when Ross and Jim Stone bought Alan Jones's shares in Alan Jones ...

, showing considerable promise with several top six performances and a third place at Calder Park. He and co-driver

won the Bathurst Classic (the V8Supercar version of the Bathurst 1000 that year) coming back after Bright crashed heavily in practice and only being able to record a single flying lap in qualifying because of the extensive repairs. In 1999, he had six podiums, including a win at

Hidden Valley Raceway Hidden Valley Raceway is part of the Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex, located at 171 Hidden Valley Road, Hidden Valley, from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex includes a 1 km drag racing track ...

and three pole positions. He also took part in the sportscar race at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

to bring in 2000 and finished third in class. 2001 saw Bright return to the

series after a stint in

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ( ...

competition (see below), with the multi-championship-winning

Holden Racing Team Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...

. Bright won the season-opening

Clipsal 500 The Adelaide 500 (also known as the VALO Adelaide 500 for sponsorship reasons) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 to 2020 and again from 2022. It is sometim ...

and led for most of the first half of the season before fading to third. 2002 was another good season at HRT, with 2 wins and a pole. 2003 saw Bright move to

Paul Weel Racing Paul Weel Racing was an Australian motor racing team which competed in the V8 Supercars Championship Series between 1998 and 2008. Ford Years After some brief appearances in 1997 in minor events, Paul Weel Racing debuted in the 1998 Australi ...

and consistency was the key to get him fourth in the standings. 2004 saw Bright win three races finishing third in the championship. Bright also won the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Bathurst 24 Hour The Bathurst 24 Hour was an endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales in 2002 and 2003. Only two races were held before the collapse of the management organisation PROCAR. Both ...

race in a

Holden Monaro The Holden Monaro ( ) is a rear-wheel drive coupé manufactured by General Motors Holden in Australia from 1968 to 1975 and later reintroduced from 2001 to 2005. It was also manufactured as a 4-door sedan from 1973 to 1977. Three generations of ...

driving with the late

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...

Greg Murphy Gregory Murphy (born 23 August 1972) is a New Zealand professional racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy joined Jeremy Clarkson and James May presenting Top Gear Live, when it had its first internati ...

and

Todd Kelly Todd Kelly (born 9 October 1979) is a retired Australian professional racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He is the older brother of fellow Supercars driver and former Bathurst 1000 winner, Rick Kelly. H ...

. This car was run by rival

team

Garry Rogers Motorsport Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the te ...

. Bright crossed marques in 2005 when he moved to

Ford Performance Racing Tickford Racing (formerly known as Prodrive Racing Australia and Ford Performance Racing) is an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team currently campaigns three Ford Mustangs, with their current drive ...

. Bright finished ninth overall for FPR. Bright had an awful start to the 2006 season, finishing 15th and 25th in

. However he improved throughout the season, ending with a win at the

and the inaugural

Desert 400 The Desert 400 was a V8 Supercar motor racing event held at the Bahrain International Circuit in Manama, Bahrain. It was held from 2006 to 2008 and in 2010. History First held in 2006, the Desert 400 was only the second V8 Supercar championship ...

at the

Bahrain International Circuit The Bahrain International Circuit ( ar, حلبة البحرين الدولية, Ḥalba al-Baḥrayn ad-Dawliyya) is a motorsport venue opened in 2004 and used for drag racing, GP2 Series (now FIA Formula 2), and the annual Formula One Bahrai ...

as well as podiums at Surfers Paradise and Symmons Plains. For 2007, Bright left FPR to join his struggling Britek Motorsport team and battled in the midfield. After two seasons with funds tightening, Bright leased out one of his two Racing Entitlement Contracts and focussed on just one car. Further to the team cutbacks, Bright came to an arrangement with

to do vehicle preparation and but most of his team equipment and workshop on the market, effectively shutting down Britek as a racing team. His form gradually improved at SBR and jumped forward when his older Britek BF Falcon was replaced with a SBR FG Falcon picking up a third at the Sydney 500 and leading the race, but by this stage Bright's major sponsor Fujitsu had announced they would be leaving the team.

Brad Jones Racing Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team owned by Brad Jones based in Albury. The team competes in the Supercars Championship and the Super2 Series. Recently they have also returned to Australian Formula Ford where Brad and Kim be ...

team owner, Kim Jones confirmed that Bright will be joining the team for the 2010 season. Bright confirmed that he would re-join Prodrive Racing Australia after leaving BJR for the 2017

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

season, just 10 years after he left the team for Britek Motorsports, making him the fourth driver in the team.

Overseas

Bright's first taste of international competition was in 1996, a hectic year in which he raced in both the United States and Australia. He won two races in the US Formula Ford 2000 Championship, at

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

Mosport Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi-track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road course; a adva ...

, finished second in the championship behind Steve Knapp and was awarded Rookie of the Year. In 2000, Bright left Australia to join the

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...

series in America, where he had five podium finishes and finished sixth in the standings. He also made his

debut at the

that year. In 2006, he drove for

Prodrive Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races automobile, cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advan ...

in an

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

at the Sebring 12 Hour finishing fourth.
Sebring 12 Hour results 2006. Retrieved 16 April 2011 from Motorsport.com 2013 he made his debut at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, Le mans 24 Hour race driving for 8 Star Motorsports. They finished 10th in class.

Britek Motorsport

Bright established his own V8 Supercar team, Britek Motorsport, in 2005. He was driving for

at the time and thus his team had restrictions on testing and driver licensing. The team is officially referred to as Fujitsu Racing, after their marquee sponsor. Bright joined his own team in 2007. He nearly won the 2007 Bathurst 1000 but a bad tyre call in the pits left him hitting the wall at McPhillamy Park with 10 laps to go. Britek also briefly ran

Ford Australia Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited (known by its trading name Ford Australia) is the Australian subsidiary of United States-based automaker Ford Motor Company. It was founded in Geelong, Victoria, in 1925 as an outpost of Ford Motor Comp ...

s entry in the Australian Rally Championship, a pair of

Super 2000 Super 2000 is an FIA powertrain specification used in the World Rally Championship, the British Touring Car Championship, the World Touring Car Championship, and other touring car championships. The engines were originally 2 L naturally aspirate ...

Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...

s for Michael Guest and

Darren Windus Darren is a masculine given name of uncertain etymological origins. Some theories state that it originated from an Anglicisation of the Irish first name Darragh or Dáire, meaning "Oak Tree". According to other sources, it is thought to come from ...

. The team wound down after the 2008 season. The team's franchises remained live in 2009 with one leased out and Bright running the other as a Stone Brothers Racing customer team. At the end of 2009, the leased franchise was sold off to

Brad Jones Racing

For the 2010 season, Bright drove a

Holden VE Commodore The Holden Commodore (VE) is an executive car that was produced by Holden from 2006 to 2013. It was the first iteration of the fourth generation of the Commodore. Its range included the luxury variants, Holden Berlina (VE) and Holden Calais (VE ...

for

. Jason Bright's 2010 season was rather inconsistent, but a couple of good qualifying performances at the back half of the year, a 4th place at the

2010 Bathurst 1000 The 2010 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was a motor race for V8 Supercars. The race, which was held on Sunday, 10 October 2010 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia was Race 18 of the 2010 V8 Supercar C ...

, and a podium finish at Symmons Plains, finishing behind

Paul Dumbrell Paul Dumbrell (born 1 September 1982) is an Australian business executive and retired racing driver. Racing history Junior career Son of former racing driver Garry Dumbrell, Paul Dumbrell started racing in karts in 1996 and by the end of 1997 D ...

and

Mark Winterbottom Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18. His career highlights include winning the ...

led to an overall result of 14th place in the championship. Race 8 in Perth saw Bright win Brad Jones Racing its first-ever V8 Supercars win. Bright followed this up with a win at Winton and was amongst the favourites to win the championship with a high of 4th in the championship standings. However, Bright's 2011 season faded away. Later in the season, Bright injured his ribs and missed 3 events as a result. His 2012 season was rather inconsistent, finishing 16th - for the second year in a row. In 2013, with the introduction of the Car Of The Future rules,

saw a dramatic change in performance in both Bright and teammate

Fabian Coulthard Fabian "Fabs" Coulthard (born 28 July 1982) is a British-born New Zealand professional race car driver, currently competing in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving as an endurance co-driver for Chaz Mostert with Walkinshaw Andretti United ...

. Using the new

Holden VF Commodore The Holden Commodore (VF) is an executive car that was produced by Holden between June 2013 and October 2017. It was the second and last significantly restyled iteration of the fourth (and final) generation of the Holden Commodore to be manufa ...

, the team saw back-to-back wins at

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, with Bright winning his first race since Winton 2011. Bright then went on to win Race 4 at Pukekohe Raceway, which awarded him the inaugural Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, for scoring the most points over the weekend; his famous celebration ended up in him busting a fluorescent light while jumping for joy. Bright's form thus far has been rather consistent, landing him with enough points to make the Top 10 in the 2013 championship. A stroke of bad luck, however, saw Bright not being able to compete in Race 1 at

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, after Andrew Jones severely damaged the car during practice. However, they did manage to repair the car to such an extent that they competed in Race 2, where they managed to place 15th. Bright finished the 2013 Championship season in 7th place, one place below teammate

. Bright had a disastrous start to 2014, with a monumental crash in Race 3 at the

giving him his first and only DNF for the season. Since then, Bright has been rather inconsistent, with only one podium finish; a win at the

Auckland 500 The Auckland SuperSprint was an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Pukekohe Park Raceway in Pukekohe, New Zealand. The event was a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the Shell Championship ...

Career results

Holden VE Commodore of Jason Bright 2011

Holden VE Commodore of Jason Bright 2012

Complete Supercars Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Bathurst 1000 results

American Open-Wheel

(

)

Indy Lights results

Champ Car

International GT Racing

Complete American Le Mans Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Bathurst 24 Hour results

12 Hours of Sebring results

Bathurst 12 Hour results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

Jason's Website

Driver DataBase profile

Conrod V8 profile

NMD Driver Articles page

Racing Reference profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, Jason 1973 births Living people Champ Car drivers Indy Lights drivers Supercars Championship drivers People from Moe, Victoria Racing drivers from Victoria (Australia) Bathurst 1000 winners Formula Ford drivers Formula Holden drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Australian Touring Car Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Aston Martin Racing drivers Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers Stone Brothers Racing drivers Matt Stone Racing drivers Dick Johnson Racing drivers