Blanchard Racing Team raises major Gen3 milestone
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 1 February 2023
The smallest team on the Supercars grid, Blanchard Racing Team, has become the first to complete a Gen3 lap.
With team owner Tim Blanchard at the wheel, single-car operation BRT achieved the milestone at Winton Motor Raceway this morning.
It is a significant moment in the new era of Supercars with all teams still scrambling to get the cars ready ahead of the first official test at Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday, February 17.
BRT is currently completing a shakedown session of its Ford Mustang and is the first to roll a Gen3 car into action.
After firing up the new Ford Coyote engine, Blanchard drove the car out of the garage and completed a successful lap.
The veteran of 182 Supercars races successfully completed an out lap and in lap before bringing car #3 back into the garage.
With the 60km mileage limit recently lifted by Supercars under a “flexible testing program” BRT’s new recruit Todd Hazelwood is expected to get plenty of laps under his belt as the day goes on.
Blanchard Racing Team initially raised eyebrows by revealing pictures of a near-complete Gen3 Ford Mustang in the New Year when most were still searching for panels and now all eyes are on the single-car team as it hits the track well before anyone else.
Although the prototype Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro have completed many kilometres of running since 2021, BRT is the first to record a lap in a Gen3 Supercar that will race.
With no Queensland based teams hitting the track on Monday when a scheduled shakedown was scrapped, BRT is the pioneer of the Gen3 running which will rapidly increase over the next few weeks.
More news will follow throughout the day with BRT expected to reveal its livery this afternoon.
For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.
AUTO ACTION, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport
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