BRT keeping options open on enduro driver

The Blanchard Racing Team is keeping its options open with respect to who will drive with Todd Hazelwood in the 2023 Supercars enduros.

While he stepped back from full-time driving at the end of 2018, Co-Principal Tim Blanchard himself has contested every enduro race from 2019 to present.

He did so initially as the co-driver for Brad Jones Racing’s #8 car, then for the entry underpinned by his own family team’s charter, run originally with BJR but subsequently taken independent, for the three years since.

The 2007 Australian Formula Ford champion was the very first person to drive a Gen3 race car when he completed the first run in BRT’s shakedown at Winton at the start of this month.

However, while he laughed about “pulling rank” on Hazelwood, the decision was spurred on by the sentimentality of having a Blanchard turn the first laps in BRT001.

It is therefore not necessarily indicative of who will co-drive the #3 CoolDrive Ford Mustang in the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 and Repco Bathurst 1000.

“From a personal point of view, a lot of things are changing in my personal commitments,” the 35-year-old told Speedcafe.com.

“I’m open to it; we’ll just see how things go. I’d like to, but also we need to put the team first, so it depends on what options are available in the co-driver market and we’ll go from there.”

BRT is expanding into the Dunlop Super2 Series this year, fielding former Porsche Carrera Cup front-runner Aaron Love.

While Love has no competitive Supercars miles as yet, he is highly rated, and will be considered for the gig in the #3 Repco Supercars Championship entry for September and October.

“Absolutely, we see a great future for Aaron in the sport,” said Blanchard.

“I watched the Porsche races last year; I know he’s got some serious talent so we’re excited to have him as part of our programme.

“If you’ve got a guy there who is doing a really good job in the first few races and he’s already contracted to the team, you’d be silly to ignore him as an option, but we’ll see how it plays out.”

Confirmed and/or prospective enduro co-drivers will be in action in tomorrow’s official Supercars pre-season test at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Tickford Racing has confirmed it will be drawing on its pool of as yet unannounced enduro steerers with Declan Fraser ruled out due to illness, and Garth Tander will suit up for Grove Racing, while Walkinshaw Andretti United seems likely to run both Lee Holdsworth and Fabian Coulthard after both had laps in the shakedown of its Mustangs at Winton.