Matt Chahda steps into ex-McLaughlin Falcon

Dunlop Series rookie Matt Chahda will switch from Holden to Ford at Winton, having purchased Scott McLaughlin’s 2012 title winning Falcon.

Originally built by Stone Brothers Racing, the car was most recently raced by Shae Davies at last year’s Sydney 500 season finale.

Chahda had campaigned an RSport Holden during the opening two rounds of the year, but failed to take the start in any of the Barbagallo races after a rear suspension failure in opening practice.

“We were absolutely devastated by what happened in Perth, having no spares for the problem we had was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Chahda.

A graduate of the Kumho V8 Touring Car Series, Chahda finished 15th in Adelaide and is optimistic of strong results with the Falcon.

“Early in the year and especially after quite a good run at Clipsal my original goal was to fight for rookie of the year,” he said.

“After having to sit out an entire round my chances of that have dwindled, but I still feel like I can fight for top 10 finishes and hope for some top fives later in the year.”