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The Blanchard Racing Team has given its new Gen3 Ford Mustang its first day of running ahead of a wildcard tilt at the Supercars enduros.
BRT is expanding to two cars for the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 and Repco Bathurst 1000, with its Dunlop Super2 Series driver Aaron Love to share a second Mustang with Jake Kostecki.
They were on-track today at Winton to shake down and then test what will be entered as Car #7, before returning to action on Wednesday at the regional Victorian circuit.
“It went quite well; no issues at all,” Co-Principal Tim Blanchard, who will pair up with Todd Hazelwood in the squad’s full-time #3 entry for the enduros, told Speedcafe.
“Did a bit of a slow start to the day, just checking all the systems and checking everything worked alright, and then a normal test programme this afternoon.
“Both [Love and Kostecki] had quite a good run in it and then they’ll be back on Wednesday for a full, proper test day.”
Kostecki told Speedcafe, “Obviously there’s little differences to the old car [Gen2] but still some traits the same; the same tyre and all that.
“Just getting comfortable really, and looking good so far, so we’ll see how we go on Wednesday.”
The #7 BRT Mustang shared the track with Grove Racing’s #19 Mustang, in which co-driver Kevin Estre officially completed an Evaluation Day while primary driver Matt Payne also enjoyed a handful of laps.
Tickford Racing used a Rookie Test Day for Thomas Randle and Declan Fraser in the #55 and #56 Mustangs, with the former entitled to the extra running given he is only in his second full season.
Erebus Motorsport held an Evaluation Day for its own Jay Hanson and fellow Super2 driver Cooper Murray in the #9 Chevrolet Camaro normally steered by Will Brown.
All of those vehicles will be back in action tomorrow when the full fleet of southern-based entries – including Brad Jones Racing, Walkinshaw Andretti United, and Team 18 – test, save for Car #7, which is back in action on Wednesday.
Similarly, Triple Eight Race Engineering tested its Supercheap Auto wildcard Camaro again at Queensland Raceway today with Craig Lowndes and Zane Goddard behind the wheel, before all of the Sunshine State-based cars run at the Ipswich venue tomorrow.
Triple Eight also had its #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro on-track during today, for steering rack development duties.
The wildcard BRT entry is being engineered by Chris Fitzgerald, who normally works with Love in Super2.
In Fitzgerald’s place on the Gen2 Mustang for the Sandown and Bathurst rounds will be veteran Wally Storey.
Blanchard has confirmed that Love is the official primary driver for the wildcard, explaining, “This wildcard programme is attached to [the Super2 effort], so that’s part of his programme with BRT.”
The outing comes days after the Box Hill-based outfit’s expansion to two cars on a full-time basis in the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship was confirmed.
