Truck Assist Racing’s Jack Le Brocq has highlighted night-time visibility from the Gen3 Supercars as a point of interest this weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.
While night racing at ‘Eastern Creek’ is now commonplace, Race 18 of the season on Saturday will be the first to be held under lights since the Gen3 era began.
The Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight therefore shapes as another real-world test for the new breed of Supercars.
“First Gen3 night race this weekend and it’s going to be pretty cool,” said Le Brocq.
“These cars are a little bit difficult to see out of, even in the daylight, so throw the night time in there and it’s going to be pretty interesting.
“I think it’s going to be awesome as a whole. I love SMP; there’s a few new sections in there in terms of surfacing since we raced there last year.
“These cars are extremely high degradation so it’s going to be interesting around SMP because it’s high deg at the best of times.
“It’s a very interesting format as well, but fingers crossed we nail it and have a good run.”
Speedcafe understands that teams have, as usual, been encouraged to make tweaks to the aesthetics of their race cars in order to enhance the spectacle, including the use of underbody LED strips.
However, with more than 130 permanent light towers at the circuit nowadays, headlights are to be used for effect only rather than illumination, else they would flare in television cameras.
Lessons were taken from the 2018 Sydney SuperNight, the scene of the first Supercars race under lights on Australian soil for more than two decades.
Le Brocq’s rookie team-mate Cameron Hill was a Carrera Cup driver that weekend, and expects that the lighting which has been installed in the years since will be an improvement.
“The only night race of the year, it will be spectacular and the Truck Assist Racing Chevrolet Camaros will look good under lights,” remarked the Canberran.
“I raced at the return of night racing at Sydney Motorsport Park back in 2018 when the light was still temporary and it was harder to see then, but it’s certainly not like that now.”
That victory was the first for the team at Championship level, but not for the Melburnian, who broke through with Tickford Racing at SMP in 2020.
“We’ve had a great experience at SMP before, had a win there a few years back so hopefully we can notch up another one with MSR,” he remarked.
“Anything is possible – we’re coming off a great run at the moment, awesome speed, so fingers crossed we can keep it going.”
Le Brocq is eighth in the drivers’ championship on the way to the Harbour City.
Support categories are on-track from Friday, with Repco Supercars Championship Practice 1 from Saturday at 12:15 local time/AEST.
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