Kelly Racing remains confident its improved Altima package will be better having underestimated the extent of changes to the car at the Superloop Adelaide 500.
The Nissan Altima has undergone several alterations over the off season including a tweak to its aero package which has seen modifications made to the splitter and gurney flap.
This has coincided with a number of technical changes for the series namely a ban on twin spring dampers and the introduction of a new ECU and gearbox.
Last weekend’s season opener in Adelaide represented the first real chance to see where the car stacks up against the rest of the field.
It ultimately proved to be a challenging weekend for the team with Rick Kelly’s 11th in Saturday’s race the highlight.
Kelly was also caught up in a pit lane clash with Chaz Mostert on Sunday while Andre Heimgartner recorded a pair of 13th place finishes.
Simona De Silvestro finished 15th and 16th as rookie Garry Jacobson came home 19th and 22nd.
However, team manager Scott Sinclair believes progress is being made to unlock the potential of the upgraded Altima.
“Without doubt it’s well-documented the car has changed,” Sinclair told Speedcafe.com.
“The balance has shifted to the front. We don’t have as much rear grip as we used to so, it’s about moving a little bit out of our window to find the rear grip without hurting the front.
“That’s the key challenge with this car. That’s what we’re working through at the moment. We’ve made some good progress from Phillip Island (pre-season test) but we’re not there yet.
“Has it (the changes) been a bit bigger than we thought? Probably. But we’re not too worried about that because we think if we can get it to work ultimately it’ll be a better package for us.
“How that stacks up against our competitors remains to be seen but we’re certainly not content with how we are and the drivers aren’t content with how the cars are set up at the moment, so that’s what our focus is.”
The Nissan Altima is now clearly the oldest package on the grid following the arrival of the Holden ZB Commodore last year and the new-for-2019 Ford Mustang, which scored two dominant victories on debut last weekend.
Sinclair says his squad is not worried by his squad’s relatively slow start compared to their rivals.
“You always go there (to Adelaide) wanting more but we’re also realistic,” he added.
“It’s not like we were tapped out and we came home shaking our heads, going, ‘What else do we have to do?’
“’We know what we got to do. We know what we got to fix’, so until we get to that point, we’re not really worried about everyone else and we just got to let the results take care of themselves.”
Kelly Racing will head to Albert Park next week for the second round of the championship which sees Supercars support the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix.
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