Tim Blanchard has moved to quell speculation of an exodus led by Race Engineer Mirko De Rosa from his family’s Supercars team.
Multiple sources have told Speedcafe that at least De Rosa and the #3 Ford Mustang’s Data Engineer, plus potentially a crew chief and number one mechanic, have left the squad.
Blanchard, Co-Principal at the Blanchard Racing Team, denied that was true when contacted today by Speedcafe.
A rapid departure of key personnel would bode negatively for BRT’s plans to field a wildcard entry in this year’s Supercars enduros at Sandown and Bathurst, which Blanchard himself and the team’s Super2 driver, Aaron Love, would be expected to pilot.
De Rosa is one of the foundation member of BRT in its guise as a standalone operation, joining ahead of its inaugural, 2021 Supercars season, having filled the Race Engineer role on Erebus Motorsport’s #99 entry up to the season prior.
He has remained in place since then, save for a period away in 2022 due to back surgery, but the strong mail is that he is now or imminently will be out of the picture.
BRT is underpinned by the Teams Racing Charter which was previously housed at Brad Jones Racing as its third car, driven by 2007 Australian Formula Ford champion Blanchard himself and then Macauley Jones, before the move to independence.
Todd Hazelwood is currently driving the #3 CoolDrive Mustang in this, his first season at the squad, and currently sits 20th in the championship.
BRT’s pit lane neighbours, PremiAir Racing, recently parted ways with Team Principal Matty Cook after previously advising that he had taken leave from the team.
Update 16:09 AEST
Blanchard was back in contact with Speedcafe just after publication.
He advised, “Mirko’s not going to come to the next few events.
“He’s got his family from Italy here and he’s got a kid due in two weeks so he was always planning some time off in this period.
“As for the others, data engineer just started like two months ago, so we’ve actually had more people start in the team in the last two, three months so the team’s actually growing up, not exiting.
“That’s the facts.”
On the question of a return date for De Rosa, Blanchard replied, “He’s still coming into work.
“I’ve just been in a meeting with him for the last half an hour. He was sitting in my office two minutes ago.
“He’s going to be workshop-based for the next few weeks while he’s got family and his kid on the way.”
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