McLean spotted testing with MWM at Winton

Matt McLean has been spotted testing an ex-Tickford Racing Ford Mustang with MW Motorsport at Winton amid mystery about his 2023 Dunlop Super2 Series plans.

The 2021 Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner has spent the last two seasons at Eggleston Motorsport but was unable to clinch a deal with the squad for 2023 for budgetary reasons.

With most of the seats in Super2 filled for the season ahead when he revealed his challenges in getting on the grid again, he faced an uncertain future in Supercars.

However, it would seem that McLean’s fortunes have taken a turn for the better, appearing at Winton today with MWM, which has brought its newly-acquired Tickford Gen2 Ford Mustang to the track for testing.

There had also been uncertainty about the Matthew White-owned team’s plans for 2023, even when it emerged recently that it had bought a Gen2-spec car from Campbellfield.

MWM had run as many as four Nissan Altimas for the past six years, but those cars are now eligible for the Super3 class rather than Super2.

If McLean has indeed done a deal with the four-time Super2 Series-winning outfit, it would stand to reason given that Tyler Everingham, who has spent multiple seasons in its Altimas, has just announced that he has switched to the National Trans Am Series for 2023.

Several teams have tested for Super2 and/or Super3 competition at Winton this week and/or the last, including the appearance yesterday of Matt Chahda Motorsport’s ex-Brad Jones Racing ZB Commodore.

Jack Perkins drove the Erebus Motorsport-entered ZB Commodore yesterday ahead of his full-season campaign as part of the squad’s ongoing alliance with Image Racing, while BJR has five cars on-track today once the Lachie Dalton ZB Commodore is accounted for on top of its Gen3 Chevrolet Camaros.

Eggleston Motorsport is also fielding five cars, comprised of four ZB Commodores and a Super3-spec VF, all of which were built by Triple Eight Race Engineering at Banyo and have collectively been run in the Championship by Triple Eight itself, Team 18, and PremiAir Racing.

Anderson Motorsport gave Zak Best his first miles in its ex-DJR Team Penske Gen2 Mustang while AIM Motorsport has been running its ex-Tickford Mustang and ex-Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport VF Commodore.

Tickford Racing is today running both of its Super2 Mustangs alongside shakedowns for the James Courtney and Declan Fraser Gen3 Fords.