Triple Eight Race Engineering’s preparation for its two-car effort in next month’s Repco Bathurst 12 Hour stepped up with a test day at The Bend in the past 24 hours.
It will field both of its full-time Supercars drivers in its Pro class entry in the Mount Panorama GT enduro, which thus represents Brown’s first competitive outing with his new team.
Summing up his first test day, he told Speedcafe, “It was an awesome first day; very casual day and really good just to get in the groove with the team this early in the season and also be able to test the 12 Hour car was fantastic.”
Brown spent three years driving Triple Eight-built cars in the Dunlop Super2 Series and completed an Evaluation Day with the team in 2017.
However, every single one of his starts in the top tier of Supercars thus far has come with Erebus Motorsport, initially as a co-driver for three years then another three as a full-timer.
Now, he is adjusting to a new team and a new way of going about racing.
“There’s differences in all teams, that’s for sure,” said the 25-year-old.
“There’s definitely a lot for me to learn and I’m quite new to the team, so it’s just finding my feet, really.
“You’re not as comfortable as you were before with everyone so it’s great to get that test day and get to know everyone a bit more, get in the GT car, and all that, and I’m looking forward to getting in the Supercar later this month.”
The familiarisation task also includes getting to know his colleagues at what is a much larger operation in Banyo than that to which Brown had become accustomed.
“I’m definitely learning a couple of new names each day,” he remarked.
“I know everyone’s faces now, but yeah, it’s been great.
“It’s obviously a big operation at Triple Eight – over 60 staff – and coming from more of a smaller team to this, it’s been quite cool and maybe even a little bit overwhelming, just meeting everyone and seeing how many staff they actually have.”
Triple Eight had its four locally-based Bathurst 12 Hour drivers at The Bend Motorsport Park for testing, with factory steerers Mikael Grenier and West Australian expat Jordan Love (Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver) set to arrive at a later date.
For Brown, who is driving with Broc Feeney and Grenier, the 2024 edition will be his second in the race in a GT3 after also driving a Mercedes-AMG in 2022.
“I’ve done a little bit in GT but I haven’t been in one for about two years so it was quite cool to get in it,” he said.
“They definitely drive a lot different to a Supercar but it took me a little bit just to get back into the groove.
“I think stepping over the edge has more consequences in a GT car than in a Supercar, so it was just finding that limit and not going too far over it but I had a really positive test day and I was happy with it.”
The latter two will also be part of the driving crew when Triple Eight contests the 24 Hours of Spa and Indianapolis 8 Hour for the first time, as part of its partnership with Ibrahim’s Johor Motorsports Racing.
The 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour takes place on February 16-18, with the full schedule now released.
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