Zak Best set for Supercars career lifeline

Speedcafe understands that Best, 23, will form part of the Blanchard Racing Team’s yet-to-be-announced line-up.

BRT found itself with two co-drives to fill after Aaron Cameron was last month promoted to full-time duties in place of Aaron Love.

That’s proven a blessing for Best, who was absent from the Supercars scene last year following a heartbreaking end to 2023 that resulted in a third-straight runner-up finish in the Super2 Series.

Unable to secure a graduation to the Supercars Championship, Best was also missing from the enduros in 2024 as Tickford Racing’s two-car contraction ended his three-year co-driving stint.

Best’s three Bathurst 1000 starts at Tickford came alongside Jack Le Brocq, Thomas Randle and current BRT driver James Courtney, in a pairing that scored sixth place in the 2023 Great Race.

Whether Best joins Cameron in the CoolDrive car or reunites with Courtney, who was paired with Jack Perkins last year at BRT, is unclear.

Best is said to be highly rated by BRT team manager Kate Harrington, who led Tickford’s Super2 team during the driver’s time there.

The highlight of Best’s Tickford tenure was a 2022 Supercars Championship wildcard program that netted a shock pole position at The Bend.

Best’s only national-level drive in 2024 came via a Carrera Cup outing at Sandown, while he spearheaded Chris Delfsma’s Bathurst 6 Hour Ford Mustang effort last weekend.

There Best scored a class pole position and helped the entry to second in its division in the race, only to be disqualified for a technical infringement.

BRT is currently trying to turn around a rough start to its season that has included its cars locking out the back row of the grid for all three races at Taupo.

The squad has subsequently hired ex-Team 18 manager Dennis Huijser to the role of crew chief, while it is also preparing a new car for Courtney to debut at Wanneroo in June.