TRIPLE EIGHT TO TEST YOUNG DRIVERS

Will Brown to be part of Triple Eight young driver evaluation – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde

Triple Eight Racing will test three Super2 Series drivers at Queensland Raceway this Friday as part of a young driver evaluation.

Will Brown, Nathan Morcom and Kurt Kostecki will all get the chance to sample one of Triple Eight’s current specification Holden Commodore’s, sharing the teams spare car, during the day. All three have experience with Triple Eight chassis’s, campaigning them in the Super 2 series with Eggeston Motorsport (Brown and Morcom) and Kostecki Brothers Racing (Kostecki).

Mark Dutton, team manager of Triple Eight said the purpose test day was to get a clear understanding of how each of the drivers is progressing.

“It’s one of those things where you always want to be at least one if not two steps ahead of the game so you know the quality of the young guys coming through,” he said.

“We’re quite fortunate that drivers in Supercars don’t miss rounds very often, but if a co-driver gets sick or something like that, you’ve got to have some reserves ready.

“If circumstances change and something has to happen in a hurry you want to be making decisions on a position of strength.

“Watching them drive their own cars is one thing, but when you put them in one of yours and you’re engineering it you get a better appreciation for their level and potential.”

This isn’t the first call up to main game for Kostecki who stepped in to drive at Team 18 last year while Lee Holdsworth was injured. The 19 year old also works an mechanic at Triple Eight and has close ties to the team.

Nathan Morcom will also get the chance to test with Triple Eight – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde

Strong performances for Brown and Morcom in 2016 have them on Triple Eight’s radar. Brown, 19, won both the Australia Formula 4 Championship and Toyota 86 Series last year before stepping up to Super2. While Morcom, 25, won the Australian GT Endurance Championship.

Triple Eight will also use the day to give Jamie Whincup’s data engineer, Romy Mayer, experience being in charge of a car.

Super2 squad Matt Stone Racing will also be testing on Friday as they get Todd Hazelwood ready for his Supercars wildcard appearance at next weekends round in Ipswich.

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