LDM looks to new car for rest of season
Warren Luff endured electrical problems at Winton Motor Raceway
Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport looks set to purchase a new chassis for the remaining rounds of this year’s V8 Supercars Championship.
After a frustrating start to the season where Warren Luff has been the field’s regular tail-ender, the Victorian-based team is on the verge of securing a new car.
The team currently uses a Walkinshaw Racing-built chassis, and Speedcafe.com understands that Dumbrell may look at his options if the team isn’t confident that Walkinshaws can assist in getting the existing car up to speed. A Garry Rogers Motorsport built Commodore is on a shortlist.
The Gulf Western Oils Racing team owner said that a decision on the car the team will campaign will be made in the near future.
“We’re definitely considering what we’re going to do in the near future,” Dumbrell told Speedcafe.com.
“There’s some options out there for us and we’ve got to look at what is going to be best for us over the next period. There’s only 18 months until the Car of the Future is introduced, so we need to be thinking of what we’re going to do in the future, but we’ve also got to look at the short-term as well.”
LDM made its debut in the V8 Supercars Championship last year with its current ex-Walkinshaw Racing Commodore. Daniel Gaunt, Cameron McConville, Mark Noske, Nathan Pretty, Scott Pruett and Warren Luff have driven the car in the championship, with the best result coming at Townville last year with McConville who finished 16th.
Reigning V8 Supercars Champion James Courtney also drove the car recently at a Winton test.
“We’ve had a number of drivers get behind the wheel of our car and no one seems to have an answer to our problems,” he said.
“We’re not happy running where we are at the moment. Warren is a better driver than where he has been finishing races so we are looking at what our options are to get him towards the front.”
Luff endured a frustrating event at Winton Motor Raceway over the weekend. In Race 10, he failed to finish with electrical problems before suffering engine dramas in qualifying for Sunday’s race. He eventually finished 22nd.