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Brad Jones Racing's most experienced driver Nick Percat has defended his team mate Jack Smith, after the rookie had a difficult first round both on and off the track at the Superloop Adelaide 500.

Smith in his first round as a full time Supercars driver, copped A two-part penalty for missing the compulsory full-field driver photo with a stewards’ report this issuing a suspended fine and “five hours of work of public interest” as his punishment. On track, the 20 year old race was given a drive-through penalty on the Saturday for ignoring blue flags when Shane van Gisbergen approached.

From left, Macauley Jones, Todd Hazelwood, Nick Percat, and Jack Smith make up the four car lineup for Brad Jones Racing this year

However Percat, a former Bathurst 1000 winner and Adelaide 500 winner, defended his team mate from the backlash and explained why the rookie was absent from the photo session.

"I'm going to defend him a little bit" Percat told Steven Johnson and Matt MacKelden on The Driver's Seat

"The photo thing, he did care and he was running down pit lane to get there. He purely thought it was five minutes later than what he thought. So he thought it was at 10:30, it was at 10:25 or something like that and he was sprinting down pit lane and he was seriously embarrassed" said Percat.

The 31 year old recently inked a two-year contract extension with Brad Jones Racing to secure his fourth season with the Albury based squad.

Listen to the full chat with Nick Percat from this week's edition of The Driver's Seat here: