The first V8-powered SuperUte has completed its shakedown with Ryal Harris turning a handful of laps at Queensland Raceway.

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Peters Motorsport has fitted one of its Mazda BT-50s with a 6.0-litre LS engine for development and testing purposes, ahead of installation of the LS3 which it is set to race with at a later date.

Team manager Brett Peters told Speedcafe.com that the engine ran “Beautiful, really good”, allowing the crew to proceed with slotting an LS3 into the ute.

“The actual LS3s, brand newies in the crate, only turned up the day before yesterday so this is a spare LS out of (would be used by) the V8 Experience cars,” he explained.

“For all the plumbing, it can basically now be pulled out of it and then the LS3 will go straight in, so it wasn’t a wasted process but we needed to do it quickly, (because) if we were only getting engines in the last couple of days, then we’d be weeks away (from installation).

“It’s just great of Rod (Dawson, team owner) and Jivan and the boys to do it so that we’re ahead of the game.”

Harris, the 2018 SuperUtes series winner, was immediately impressed with how the ute drove, as well as how it looked from the side of the race track.

“There’s another hundred horsepower that comes with the race engine that they’ve chosen but straight away obviously it was much more exciting to drive,” he told Speedcafe.com.

“It’s livelier, terminal speed’s good, corner speed’s still the same obviously – it’s the same car and tyres – so (it’s) much better.

“(It’s) Much more interesting to watch as well. A guy that works on the engine hopped in and had a drive, and even watching them, they’re much better.”

Sieders Racing Team, meanwhile, has similarly been working on fitting an LS1 in one of its Mitsubishi Tritons to determine installation requirements, although team owner Luke Sieders advised Speedcafe.com that it would not see track running until the LS3 race engine was installed.

Peters Motorsport is set to hold a test day, pending maintenance work at Queensland Raceway, late next week or early on the week following that.