Percat has made the off-season move from Walkinshaw Andretti United to the Yatala-based squad, which is due to test its Chevrolet Camaros for the first time this year at Queensland Raceway on February 7.
However, just as the Bathurst 12 Hour gives the South Australian a head start on racing with his new team, so too it does with respect to testing.
He, MSR incumbent Cameron Hill, and John Holinger cut laps in the brand-new IRC GT today at Ipswich in preparation for the once-around-the-clock Mount Panorama enduro.
“It was probably good for Cam and myself to have a drive of something heading into the Supercars season,” said Percat.
“Very fortunately, I got to do the first laps this morning, which is always pretty cool in a new car.
“For me, it’s just been good to work with Jack [Belotti] – my engineer for the year – and the crew, and just kind of get familiar with everyone’s faces and the way they go about it. It’s been quite fun.
“I looked over at points during the day and Matt [Stone] was on the car, getting his hands dirty, and everyone chips in, so it’s good to see how the race team works and I’m looking forward to coming back in a couple of weeks’ time for the Supercars test.”
Racing the IRC will give the MSR duo mileage at Mount Panorama in a vehicle similar to a Supercar, a week out from the season-opener at the same circuit.
Hill remarked, “It was comfortable. We started to play with the set-up of the car to see what it was like, but it was really good out of the box.
“So, all in all, it was a solid sort of hit-out, a soft introduction to the year, basically.”
The MSR Bathurst 12 Hour entry will carry the #10 plate, matching that which Percat has been allocated for the Supercars Championship season ahead as part of the team’s move to Stone Brothers Racing-themed numbers.
Meanwhile, his predecessor at MSR, Jack Le Brocq, is the latest Supercars driver to be announced as tackling the Bathurst 12 Hour.
The event takes place on February 16-18.
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