Eyes are firmly trained on the Erebus squad this weekend due to the high-profile split with reigning Supercars champion Brodie Kostecki during the off-season.
It was an inauspicious start to the squad’s title defence as well, one of two new signings Jack Le Brocq rolling to a stop on his out lap in practice 1 with an engine issue.
While that interrupted Le Brocq’s running, and led to an engine change between sessions, it was relatively smooth sailing on the other side of the garage for Kostecki’s replacement Todd Hazelwood.
The ex-BRT driver was ninth fastest in first practice before almost topping a wet/dry second session, only beaten by former Erebus driver Will Brown right at the flag.
That left Hazelwood in a Triple Eight sandwich between Brown and Broc Feeney, suggesting a continuation of the bitter T8/Erebus title battle from last year is not out of the question, despite the upheaval at Erebus.
Hazelwood’s speed came as no surprise to Feeney, though, who noted that it was indeed the form teams of 2023 at the front, whole also warning that the conditions made pace difficult to read.
“I suppose none of us know yet,” said Feeney. “And that’s the question that will be answered tomorrow and over the next few rounds.
“But yeah, it’s the same teams’ champions [from] last year back up here today. So that’s no surprise.
“I mean, those [Erebus] boys can certainly drive the car and they’ve got fast race cars. So we’re looking forward to it.
“Today, it’s probably a little bit hard to tell. But we’ll find out over the weekend and then into the next couple of rounds what really happens.”
Expanding on the conditions, Feeney explained that the wind in practice 1 was as difficult to deal with as the rain in practice 2.
Adding to the challenge is that all drivers in the field are trying to adjust to updated aero packages.
“This morning was, to be honest, some of the toughest conditions we drove around here with the wind and the dirt across the top of the Mountain,” he said.
“Every time you got to Skyline it was different. It was super hard down there.
“We’ll find out once the conditions settle. It’s a little bit cooler tomorrow.
“But you know, we’re all out there at the same time, so it doesn’t matter. It’s just what you’ve got at the time.
“I think we’ve rolled out some pretty strong cars, and we’ll do some tuning over tonight and hopefully we can be strong tomorrow.”
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