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Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup is eyeing this week’s test day at Queensland Raceway as a crucial opportunity to get back on top of the Supercars Championship pecking order.
All four teams based in the Sunshine State will head out to Ipswich this Thursday for their first ever in-season Gen3 test day (save for a rookie day for Matt Stone Racing’s Cameron Hill at The Bend).
It comes after four events so far this season, during which Erebus Motorsport has proven to be the benchmark in the Repco Supercars Championship field.
That includes, of course, having the edge on the Red Bull Ampol Racing outfit which has, in the last two years, won both drivers’ titles, both teams’ titles, and one of the two Bathurst 1000 victories on offer.
“For sure, [the test day is] very, very important,” Whincup told Speedcafe from the launch of the Supercheap Auto wildcard campaign for 2023.
“Also, more important [because] we don’t have the quickest cars at the moment, so we need test days to find answers, or to get intel on finding a direction to get the fastest cars again.
“So, looking forward to next Thursday.”
Shane van Gisbergen has been uncharacteristically inconsistent in the most recent events of the season, at Wanneroo and Symmons Plains, and had a similar view.
“We need to test probably more than ever,” he declared.
“In a race weekend, it’s pretty hard to go outside your circle with set-up and get too adventurous.
“We don’t need to find that much, but we really want to try some things and look at different avenues with set-up that we probably don’t have the time to do at a race weekend, so it’s very important.”
However, the test will not be so straightforward for the Banyo-based operation, or necessarily any of its rivals who will also be either at Queensland Raceway, or at Winton on the day prior.
Triple Eight Race Engineering has confirmed that all six of its drivers will be in action, namely van Gisbergen and his enduro co-driver Richie Stanaway; Broc Feeney and the #88 co-driver, Whincup himself; and Supercheap Auto duo Zane Goddard and Craig Lowndes.
All four of the part-time drivers need seat time in the Gen3 Camaros, with Stanaway looking to migrate to right-foot braking due to the traits of the new breed of Supercar.
“You can’t just bring the driver up to speed and go ‘round and ‘round and ‘round without developing the car; you’ll get left behind,” added Whincup.
“At the same time, you can’t just develop the car and just run your main driver all the time, because the co-drivers have got to get brought up to speed.
“So, it’s a difficult thing. It’s the same for everyone though, and we’ll balance those two, between driver laps and developing the cars.”
This week’s test days come ahead of the Betr Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley on June 16-18, when Goddard will make his first solo race start since November 2021, in an expanded Supercheap Auto wildcard programme.
Triple Eight is currently second in the teams’ championship., 276 points behind Erebus.
