Team Penske Cup Series driver Cindric is the first NASCAR racer to commit to an Adelaide wildcard, set to tackle the November 27-30 event aboard a third Tickford Racing Mustang.
The 27-year-old will arrive in Melbourne on Friday morning and head straight to Tickford’s Campbellfield workshop before joining the race team at Sandown.
Four days at the venue will culminate in his first drive of the car he’s set to race in Adelaide.
“After he lands we’ll get him into the shop for a seat fit and take some happy snaps with the car, which we’ll hopefully launch on Monday,” Tickford team manager Matt Roberts told Speedcafe.
“Then we’ll try and get him out to Sandown [to observe] by Practice 2.
“He’s obviously with us throughout the weekend, the ride day on Monday, then we’re at Tailem Bend on Wednesday and Thursday testing with him.
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“Hopefully we can get him up to speed in that time. He had commitments with Team Penske this week, so we’re flying him out as soon as we can.”
While Cindric will have to wait until Monday to get his first Gen3 laps, Roberts says there’s plenty to be gained by being embedded in the team across the weekend.
“We want to get him immersed in the team as quick as we can and as much as we can,” he said of the weekend ahead.
“Sandown is the only opportunity we have for him to hear what Cam [Waters] and Thomas [Randle] have to say, to get him involved in pre-briefs and debriefs, just trying to immerse him.
“We’ve had plenty of phone conversations and Zoom calls with him, but there’s only so much you can do when they’re 15,000 kays away.
“He’s excited. He wants to learn as much as he can from the Sandown weekend and use it.
“He’s going to go out and have a red-hot crack at Adelaide and hopefully surprise a few people. I’m sure he’ll do a good job and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do.”
Cindric tested Car of the Future era Supercars on Australian soil in 2014 and ’16 and has also experienced a Gen2 Mustang that Team Penske has in the US.
Gen3 Supercar mileage so far has been limited to simulator sessions, which have been fitted in around his NASCAR commitments.
Cindric is an experienced road racer that Roberts is convinced will have no problems handling the Gen3 Mustang.
The Supercars sojourn will, however, involve trying to switch from his favoured left-foot braking technique to the right-foot, heel-and-toe method preferred by Supercars teams.
“He wants to give it a go, that’s for sure,” said Roberts of right-foot braking.
“He’s been trying to teach himself as much as he can. Hopefully the boys can help him with it over the weekend and we can try and teach him in the time we’ve got.”
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