Anderson Motorsport will field Toyota 86 podium finisher Brad Vaughan in this year’s Dunlop Super3 Series.
Vaughan will drive the Tickford Racing FG Falcon which has been steered previously by established Super2 front-runner Jayden Ojeda, new Triple Eight Super2 pilot Declan Fraser, and Michael Anderson himself, the 2021 Super3 runner-up.
The 17-year-old South Australian makes the step up after a handful of rounds in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series, when he twice finished races on the podium and impressed his future team boss.
“I like the Toyota 86 series as a feeder category because it teaches them good car control, the heel-and-toe, that sort of thing as well,” Anderson told Speedcafe.com.
“Up at Townsville, we had bigger breaks between our sessions, so that’s where I went and had a bit of a look at it and saw he had a podium, was driving well, and kept himself out of trouble, which is a hard thing to do in most categories these days.
“So, I watched him from there, saw him again at Eastern Creek and same thing; put a good performance on, and finished at Bathurst.
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“I think he’s got what it takes.”
Vaughan only started car racing in 2019, in local Excel competition, and could not even complete a full season of 86s last year due to border restrictions in his home state.
He will drive a Supercar for the first time this month, although the Anderson Ford is a proven package not just in Super3, but having also been driven by Cameron Waters to a Super2 Series title.
“I know Declan Fraser and Jayden Ojeda have driven it before me, as well as Michael, so there’s plenty of proof in the pudding that people have had success in the car, so it should be good,” Vaughan told Speedcafe.com.
“I’ve never driven a V8 Supercar, but [the goal is] definitely to be the top rookie.
“Hopefully there’s a few other young kids that I’m going to be up against, and hopefully we can come out in front of them, and if that means winning the series, then that means winning the series.
“Michael finished second last year and Jayden finished second in the car as well, so Michael certainly wants to go one step further and get on the top finally, so that’s what his expectations are, I guess.”
Anderson remarked, “Basically, we’re not there to make numbers up.
“Like all the drivers before, we’re there to win races.
“We know we’ve got the quickest car there so we just need to make sure that we fast-track him.
“It is going to be his first time in a Supercar so it’s just a case of getting him up to speed as quick as we can.”
Vaughan will be looking to closely replicate the path so far of Fraser, who also came from 86s to Super3 on the way to Super2, while Ojeda won the Australian Formula 4 Championship immediately prior to his first season of Supercar competition.
According to Anderson, the third tier of the category is a logical step on the pathway to the Championship.
“Looking at young Brad, he wants to get to Supercars,” he noted.
“The most obvious choice to fast-track your way to Supercars is definitely Super3 in my opinion, over TCR, TA2, or S5000 – all completely different cars to a Supercar – and you’re racing on the same grid [events] as them, basically.”
The 2022 Super2 Series, which includes the Super3 class, gets underway in support of the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight on March 4-6.
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