New engineer for Pither in Perth

PremiAir Racing’s Chris Pither will have a two-pronged engineering line-up at the Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight.

The ultra-experienced Ken Douglas had taken the reins on the #22 Coca-Cola Commodore for the first three rounds of the season, but was always expected to be a short-term solution due to his other motorsport commitments.

A revised structure around Pither will see the Kiwi now guided by former Matt Stone Racing employee Sheldon Auhl and the up-and-coming Chris Chopping, who Douglas had taken under his wing.

Auhl will officially be race engineer, with Chopping data engineer.

While the sister car driven by Garry Jacobson had a breakout event last time out at Albert Park, Pither struggled.

The 2018 Super2 Series winner was however on the pace during the previous round at Symmons Plains, and team principal Peter Xiberras is now determined to see strong performance from both sides of its garage.

“Chris had a better weekend at Symmons Plains and Garry had a bit of a shocker, and then it was the other way around at the Grand Prix,” Xiberras told Speedcafe.com.

“So yeah, it was good, and we’re definitely moving in the right direction, there’s no two ways about it, but until we can have both cars constantly top 10 and competitive, then we have just got to keep working at it.”

Jacobson’s Albert Park form means every team has now had at least three top 10 finishes – a first in the Supercars era for this early in the season.

Support categories hit the track at Wanneroo Raceway today, with opening practice for the Repco Supercars Championship starting tomorrow at 10:20 local time (12:20 AEST).