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Blanchard Racing Team will field Carrera Cup front-runner Aaron Love in the Dunlop Super2 Series in 2023.
BRT is adding a Super2 programme to its Repco Supercars Championship with the advent of its Gen3, fielding its existing Gen2 Ford Mustang in the second tier from next year.
It has chosen Love, who finished second in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia standings this year despite a sporadic campaign interspersed with European racing.
The 20-year-old West Australian is the second newly confirmed arrival at BRT, with Matt Stone Racing incumbent Todd Hazelwood to steer its Gen3 Mustang next year.
“We are excited to welcome a young talent like Aaron to BRT to contest the Super2 Series with us,” said team Co-Principal Tim Blanchard.
“He has dominated the rounds of the Carrera Cup he has competed in this year, and that is why we want him to be with us for years to come.
“This is an important step in the growth of BRT as we continue to expand with the hopes of moving to two cars in the main Supercars Championship in the near future.
“It is an opportunity to take a manageable step forward for our team without compromising our main series entry with Todd Hazelwood.
“We have been really impressed with Aaron to date, he has the right attitude and is really fast, the whole team can’t wait to see what he can do in a Supercar.”
For Love, who raced in Carrera Cup France and dabbled in Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup this year, the move represents a commitment to competing at home.
“After this year away racing in Europe it sparked a lot of questions within myself and where I want to end up racing, but it didn’t take me long to realise that I wanted to race at home and in Supercars,” he explained.
“The relationship with Tim and the whole BRT crew was already there with Sonic, so there hasn’t been much questioning from the start and as things have progressed it just made more and more sense, especially with the way they have been growing both on and off track.
“It will definitely be a challenge for myself and a new experience for the team racing in Super2, but I’m confident that we have all the tools and more to get us to where we need and want to be.
“The past year has been a huge learning and growing experience for me, and I wouldn’t change a thing knowing that it’s prepared me a lot for what is ahead.
“I’m really excited for the new journey back in Australia and in an area so different for myself and my family; we’ve never dealt with the Supercar pathway or even a Supercar before.
“There are a couple of sticks and an extra pedal that I’ve got to figure out what they do, but I’ve got some of the best people behind me to show me the way and I can’t wait to get started.”
As Love noted, he was fielded in Carrera Cup Australia by Sonic Motor Racing Services, the same team with which Blanchard himself won the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2007.
The 2023 Super2 Series is expected to kick off at Newcastle on March 10-12.
