Talent search winner Matt Powers will now make his Supercars debut in the Kumho Tyre Super3 Series rather than Super2.

Powers won the Pro competition in last year’s Aussie Driver Search, a program which gives paying entrants the chance to win drives in various series or races.

His prize was originally to drive a full season in the Dunlop Super2 Series with Matt Stone Racing in the VF Commodore which Todd Hazelwood drove to the title in 2017.

Powers will instead race in Super3 Series this year and at least that series again next year.

According to Aussie Driver Search director/founder Kyle Austin, the change has come about in order to more steadily ease competition winners into Supercars racing.

Powers will drive the ex-Tickford Racing FG Falcon which was driven in last year’s Phillip Island Super3 round by Ryal Harris and in the non-points races on the Gold Coast by Austin himself.

“After successful campaigns in Super3 last year, we feel that the third-tier Supercars category is the best place for a driver to start their career,” said Austin.

“Making it to the main game is a three to five year process and we feel our winners are better served developing in Super3 at the pointy end of the field with less pressure than Super2 for their initial season.

“We feel that this change also will encourage more people to enter our program with Super3 being a more natural step, while still gaining valuable Supercars mileage. It also reduces the Pro Comp entry fee considerably to make it more accessible.

“At the end of the day, we only want to do it at the most competitive level we can, so we are working hard on gaining the appropriate budget required to race in Super2, and eventually elevate our previous winners to ultimately reach the Supercars Championship.

“This change will take effect immediately with our 2018 Pro Comp Winner Matt Powers completing a full season with us in the 2019 Super3 Series while we work towards putting together a 2020 Super2 deal for Matt.

“At a minimum we will run Matt Powers in the 2020 Super3 Series to ensure he will still receive the full $600,000 of funding which he won last year.

“We are pioneers in providing these opportunities to aspiring race drivers and we are confident that Super3 is the right category with the recent official endorsement as a Supercars category and look forward to backing up our success in the category last year.”

The winner of this year’s running of Aussie Driver Search’s Pro competition will receive a full season in Super3 in 2020, with the entry fee reduced from $4950 to $2950 as a result.

Powers, a Californian, will therefore make his Australian racing debut in Round 1 of the Super3 Series at the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint on April 12-14.

Super2 starts at the Superloop Adelaide 500 on February 28-March 3.