Webb joins Aussie Racing Cars field for The Bend

Jonathon Webb will make a one-off start in the Aussie Racing Cars series when it supports the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’s first event at The Bend this weekend.

Webb’s ride will be a Mustang-bodied car out of the Western Sydney Motorsport (WSM) stable, which has previously been raced by former series front-runner Peter Carr and Troy Dontas, brother of SuperUtes driver Craig.

The meeting represents the first racing for the 2016 Bathurst 12 Hour and Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 winner since last year’s Newcastle 500 when he again stepped into the Toyota 86 Racing Series as an invited driver.

He will again suit up in September and October as Tekno’s Pirtek Enduro Cup co-driver, but this time in the Queensland team’s new-for-2018 ZB Commodore with Virgin Australia Supercars Championship rookie Jack Le Brocq.

WSM team owner Craig Thompson said that the motivation for the drive is for Webb to rack up race mileage prior to the enduros.

“He told me was that he hasn’t done a lot of time in a car and he hasn’t had the opportunity to do a lot of the time in the car so he needs some race laps to sharpen himself up and the Aussie cars are a good short-term opportunity for him to do some laps,” Thompson told Speedcafe.com.

Webb’s only official running this year has been in the pre-season Supercars test day at Sydney Motorsport Park and the Additional Driver Practice session at last month’s Ipswich SuperSprint.

WSM’s Justin Ruggier won the most recent Aussie Racing Cars round at Queensland Raceway, while Kyle Ensbey leads the series ahead of Round 5 at the OTR SuperSprint on August 24-26.

Entry list: Round 5, The Bend Motorsport Park