Supercars has confirmed the pit lane order for the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship – the first of the Gen3 era.
Determined by the finishing order in the previous seasons’ Teams Championship, the garage order privileged the championship teams with the final garages at the head of pit lane perceived as an advantage. The only other factor that marginally disrupts this is teams with four entries, such as Tickford Racing and Brad Jones Racing.
As 2022 champions, Red Bull Ampol Racing will be at the head of pit lane where Shane van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney – who debuted their Gen3 Chevrolet Camaros at Queensland Raceway yesterday in a mammoth 650km shakedown – will be stationed.
The next garage will be that of the Shell V-Power Racing Team, with Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale – who finished fourth and fifth in the Drivers’ title last year respectively – earning DJR second in the Teams title and the second garage as a result.
Third in the title was the two-car Tickford combination of James Courtney and Cam Waters, with the four-car teams being split into pairs for the rankings. Yet this means that Tickford will take the next four garage spots on the grid, even if its second due of rookies Thomas Randle and the since dropped Jake Kostecki only scored enough points to be finish 17th. The 2022 Super2 Series winner, Declan Fraser, replaces Kostecki.
Walkinshaw Andretti United finished fourth in the 2022 points, meaning Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat – who both carry on with the team in its switch from Holden to Ford – will be the next garage.
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David Reynolds and Matt Payne are next for Grove Racing, who tested the new #19 Gen3 Penrite Racing Ford Mustang at Winton on Wednesday for the first time. Payne is in his rookie season alongside 2017 Bathurst-winning Reynolds, with the team’s engineering clout bolstered by the arrival of Grant ‘Shippy’ McPherson in addition to the talented David Cauchi as Team Principal. Stephen Grove has made no secret of the fact that the Braeside team is looking for a garage closer to the front, with a Top Three teams result the goal for 2023.
Coca-Cola backed Erebus Motorsport is next, with Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown unveiling the fresh livery that their Gen3 Chevrolet Camaros will run when they head to the track for the first time next week.
Team 18 revealed the first of its two liveries this morning and will line up in the next pair of garages for the Camaros of Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye.
The other four-car squad, Brad Jones Racing, is next, with the Albury-based yet to reveal the first of its four liveries, with its driving arsenal spearheaded by Andre Heimgartner again for 2023 alongside Macauley Jones, Jack Smith and Bryce Fulwood.
Matt Stone Racing – which has the honour of being the first team to test a Gen3 Camaro on track when it wheeled out a Truck Assist-stickered black Camaro at Queensland Raceway last Tuesday – is next, with the Queensland team, and teased the team’s 2023 look earlier today. Jack Le Brocq will continue with the team this season, with new recruit Cam Hill stepping up from Super2. The team will unveil its livery this Monday, February 13th.
PremiAir Racing is next, the first of the Gold Coast team’s pair of Camaros testing alongside the Triple Eight Race Engineering Camaros at Queensland Raceway yesterday. James Golding and Tim Slade will race for the team in 2023.
The last team in pit lane was the first team to wheel out a Gen3 Supercar – Blanchard Racing Team. The Box Hill-based CoolDrive Racing team met the original February 1 Supercars date for shakedown, and covered approximately 60 laps of the 3.0km circuit before any other team in the grid. Tim Blanchard, for the record, is the first driver to run a Gen3 Supercar race car (as opposed to test/development car) on track. The team has since backed that achievement with a second run at Winton this week.
Round 1 of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship, the Thrifty Newcastle 500, will be held from March 10-13.
2023 Supercars Pit Lane Order
1 Triple Eight Race Engineering
2 Triple Eight Race Engineering
3 Dick Johnson Racing
4 Dick Johnson Racing
5 Tickford Racing
6 Tickford Racing
7 Tickford Racing
8 Tickford Racing
9 Walkinshaw Andretti United
10 Walkinshaw Andretti United
11 Grove Racing
12 Grove Racing
13 Erebus Motorsport
14 Erebus Motorsport
15 Team 18
16 Team 18
17 Brad Jones Racing
18 Brad Jones Racing
19 Brad Jones Racing
20 Brad Jones Racing
21 Matt Stone Racing
22 Matt Stone Racing
23 PremiAir Racing
24 PremiAir Racing
25 Blanchard Racing Team
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