Tekno Autosports owner Jonathon Webb is adamant that his team can win the V8 Supercars title next year, despite plans to expand to two cars having stalled.
Driver Shane van Gisbergen finished an outstanding second in Tekno’s customer Triple Eight Holden this year, nabbing the position from Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom in the final race.
The performance, which included five race wins and 13 podiums throughout the season, came after financial pressures saw the squad drop its second entry for 2014.
While Tony D’Alberto Racing had strived to add its returned Racing Entitlements Contract to the team for next year, a failure to find funding ensured that the license was not entered by the December 1 deadline.
Now expecting no major changes to the team’s structure for next year, Webb is confident that Van Gisbergen will be a title contender regardless.
Although second in the order, the Kiwi ended the season almost 600 points adrift of Whincup after struggling for pace at multiple rounds.
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“Absolutely we can,” Webb told Speedcafe.com when asked if Tekno can defeat Red Bull as a single-car team.
“If we can keep it together, eliminate the mistakes and make sure we improve at the tracks we struggled…
“We don’t have to win every weekend, but there were a couple of rounds where we struggled to be in the 10, where we need to be on the podium.
“We improved a lot from last year on some that we struggled on and there’s a couple more that we need to work on for next year.
“If we keep progressing from where we were last year to this year and then do a similar step next year, there’s no doubt we can give anyone a run for their money.
“That’s going to be the case whether we’re running one, two or five cars.”
Tekno’s technical relationship with Triple Eight undoubtedly helps reduce the disadvantage of running a single car.
Van Gisbergen noted after the Sydney finale that he’s looking forward to receiving a host of Triple Eight’s latest parts next year in a bid to bridge the gap to the Red Bull squad.
Webb is hopeful of purchasing upgrades ahead of the new season, but says the team’s budget is yet to be fully set.
“We don’t have the latest and greatest kit as far as what Triple Eight sells,” he admitted.
“We probably run on half the budget (per car) that they do to run the Red Bull guys, so little parts of the car aren’t the latest.
“If we can try and put a few more sponsors on the car that’ll help contribute towards upgrades.
“We know what’s out there, what the differences are and it’s not a great deal.
“There are some things like uprights and things like that, but it’s not make or break for our world.
“We’re pretty close to wrapping up our budget for 2015 and then we’ll sit down in the next week or two and make a call on where we’re going to go.”
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