James Courtney will enjoy his maiden laps in the Holden Racing Team’s first Car of the Future V8 Supercar at Winton on Tuesday.
The team is undertaking its first full-day COTF test at the Victorian venue following an initial shakedown run at Calder Park last week, where the car was steered by Dunlop Series driver Nick Percat.
The HRT is the third team to hit the track with one of its own 2013 specification cars following earlier outings from Triple Eight Race Engineering and Ford Performance Racing.
Courtney briefly sampled one of V8 Supercars’ COTF prototypes at March’s Clipsal 500 this year, taking passengers for rides around the street course in the Commodore VE-bodied Holden.
Courtney says he’s looking forward to racing the new cars next year, which are a significant evolution of the current live-axle vehicles.
“For me, it’s going back to what I’ve known with the independent rear and better weight distribution with the gearbox in the back from Super GT and the formula cars I’ve raced,” he said.
“I’m super excited to get back and have a taste of that driving style. It’ll be quite an evolution from the way Supercars are now with a stop-start arrangement.
“For me as a driver and us as a driving group it’s quite an exciting time, and also for the engineers to let their hair out, experiment and try new things.”
Courtney has largely struggled since moving to the HRT as the reigning champion at the beginning of last season, while the factory Holden team heads to Bathurst next week looking to break a year-long victory drought.
The HRT is yet to confirm if it will hold its second ‘manufacturer test’ on October 15 at Sydney Motorsport Park or October 22 at Phillip Island.
