Record SuperUte entry for SMP

It has been three months since the V8 SuperUte Series first round in Perth, but next weekend’s second round is set to have the biggest field since it began.

At Sydney Motorsport Park on July 28-30, the V8-powered dual-cab category will boast a record entry of 21 V8-powered Utes.

The numbers have been strengthened with the three newcomers in Holly Espray, Lachlan Gardner and Jensen Engelhardt as well as the return of Chris Formosa (Ford Ranger) and Harry Gray (Mitsubishi Triton) who both raced on the Gold Coast last year.

Queenslander Espray will be the second female (after Ellexandra Best) in the current series and will race a Isuzu D-MAX after strong career in Circuit Excels before recently racing in the Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia Scholarship Series.

Also from Queensland, Gardner’s background has most recently been in a MARC Mazda V8 where he has competed against Sports Sedans. He will be at the wheel of a Mazda BT-50 while Engelhardt is new to circuit racing although he has done Victorian Sprints in a Holden Astra, before he makes his Ute debut in his Toyota HiLux.

“It feels like a completely revamped category compared to where we were 12 months ago and that’s credit to the hard work that every single person in our paddock has made,” said category operations manager Filippa Guarna.

“We’ve done a lot of internal restructuring, there’s been the streamlining of communications and operations, every team has stepped up in their level of presentation and professionalism, we’ve welcomed a lot of new corporate partners into the paddock, and we’ve built a heap of new SuperUtes! It’s an exciting time to be part of V8 SuperUtes.”

Benchmark have been set off-track with key roles being filled by women at a national level including positions of operations, communications, photographer, engineer, mechanic and admin which the category is actively seeking to grow further.

Reigning champion Aaron Borg leads the series ahead of fellow Holden Colorado driver George Gutierrez with Adam Marjoram third in a Triton.

Round 2 will be televised on FoxSports and Kayo, starting with qualifying on Friday afternoon and followed by four races, two on Saturday and two on Sunday.