Jason Bright

Jason Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired Australian racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.

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 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 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 and Gavin Monaghan.

He won the Formula Ford race supporting the Australian Grand Prix.

1995 was a fantastic season for Bright, winning the Australian Formula Ford Championship, winning the Australian Grand Prix support race and the Lexmark Indy 300 support race.

He was also nominated for two major Australian awards.

He finished runner-up in the 1996 Australian Drivers' Championship behind Paul Stokell, winning 3 races.

Bright's first taste of international competition was in 1996, a hectic year in which he raced in both the United States and Australia.

But in 1997, Bright dominated that championship, winning seven races and made his V8 Supercar debut at Symmons Plains, finishing ninth, but better was to come as he finished third in the Sandown 500 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, showing considerable promise with several top six performances and a third place at Calder Park.

He and co-driver Steven Richards 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 and three pole positions.

He also took part in the sportscar race at Adelaide to bring in 2000 and finished third in class.

He won two races in the US Formula Ford 2000 Championship, at St. Petersburg and Mosport, 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 series in America, where he had five podium finishes and finished sixth in the standings.

He also made his Champ Car debut at the Lexmark Indy 300 that year.

2001 saw Bright return to the V8 Supercar series after a stint in Champ Car competition (see below), with the multi-championship-winning Holden Racing Team.

Bright won the season-opening Clipsal 500 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 and consistency was the key to get him fourth in the standings.

Bright also won the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour race in a Holden Monaro driving with the late Peter Brock, Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly.

This car was run by rival V8 Supercar team Garry Rogers Motorsport.

2004 saw Bright win three races finishing third in the championship.

Bright crossed marques in 2005 when he moved to Ford Performance Racing.

Bright finished ninth overall for FPR.

Bright had an awful start to the 2006 season, finishing 15th and 25th in Adelaide.

However he improved throughout the season, ending with a win at the Sandown 500 and the inaugural Desert 400 at the Bahrain International Circuit as well as podiums at Surfers Paradise and Symmons Plains.

In 2006, he drove for Prodrive in an Aston Martin at the Sebring 12 Hour finishing fourth.

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 Stone Brothers Racing 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 team owner, Kim Jones confirmed that Bright will be joining the team for the 2010 season.

He drove the No. 56 Ford FG X Falcon for Britek Motorsport, a satellite team of Prodrive Racing Australia, before retiring from full-time racing at the end of the 2017.

Bright confirmed that he would re-join Prodrive Racing Australia after leaving BJR for the 2017 Supercars Championship season, just 10 years after he left the team for Britek Motorsports, making him the fourth driver in the team.