How teams unpacked Supercars test

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 14 August 2025

Teams and co-drivers enjoyed a bonus chance to build Gen3 laps with a pre-enduro Supercars test day taking place at Queensland Raceway.

All teams took the opportunity with open arms, having productive days with few interruptions.

For Triple Eight, the focus was not on established stars Broc Feeney and Will Brown after their Ipswich sweep, but on their co-drivers Jamie Whincup and Scott Pye.

Whincup swapped the headset as managing director for the hot seat and adapted straight away, topping the morning session.

Jamie Whincup studies the data on his return to driving.

“It was good to get back behind the wheel of that car today, these days are so valuable for the team in getting our co-drivers up to speed and showing some pace,” Whincup said.

“I feel like we had a really productive day.

“You know you always do laps every year, but this time around I was rusty no doubt, fairly rusty at the start of the day.

“Your brain capacity is flat out driving in the car then you don’t really have much left to feel the car and be able to make any changes. But that certainly improved as the day went on. I’m pretty sore now though.”

Pye had been commentating on Fox Sports, but has been doing various drives throughout the year and felt at one with the #1 Camaro instantly.

“I feel really good, actually,” he said.

“I remember last year I did the one test day and felt better prepared than ever, this year it’s very much the same.

“I didn’t need to do too many laps today, I really felt straight away comfortable in the car.

“I got a heap of pitstops in along with those laps today so it’s ticking every box ahead of The Bend when we’re both in and out of the car. Today was one of my better test days I think.”

zach Bates on track at Ipswich. Image: DMAC

The Supercheap Auto wildcard was back with Zach Bates doing more laps after a massive weekend where he did Super2 duties in addition to his Supercars debut.

He was back in the #888 on Tuesday and learnt more things such as driver changes and enduro processes.

“For me, it’s been such a big week,” he said.

“Today it was more about winding out all our processes ahead of the Enduros, things like I did my first ever driver change, did fuel pit stops with the hose, it was a good opportunity to get a lot of processes down. All the ergonomic things as well, just getting them right.

“I’ve been learning lots from Craig, things like fuel saving… never done that before.

“Plus learning all the little tricks with the driver changes, all the little hacks that you never think about, you just watch it on TV and you’re like that seems easy. Then you get in there and it’s pretty hard.”

Craig Lowndes returns for one last drive with Triple Eight and the feel from the previous two years driving the Camaro remains.

However, there is one notable change he needs to adapt to with Bates this year.

“I’m comfortable in it behind the wheel and to do the laps we’ve done today has been really important,” he said.

“The changes we made the car, I think we’ve improved the way it’s set up, building on the weekend.

“Biggest thing I’m adjusting to this season I think is his (Zach’s) height. When we do our driver changes, he does take a little bit longer to get out because he’s so tall, but we’ll get our heads around that side of it.

“Other than that he reads the car the same, he feels the car the same, so really for us it’s really positive signs going forward.”

Nash Morris is sharing the #62 with Richie Stanaway. Image: Supplied

Over at PremiAir, James Golding and David Russell reunited after their successful campaign last year, which resulted in the team’s first podium at Sandown.

Russell returns, having spent time racing in Carrera Cup once again and felt well suited to the 2025 tyre.

“I have really enjoyed coming back to PremiAir Racing,” he said.

“You get such limited miles and it felt really good even from the warm-up laps this morning to be honest with you.

“We were straight down to competitive times and I just felt really comfortable which is very nice.

“I like this new ’25 tyre so that is a positive for me. I can really feel the car a lot better on this new spec tyre versus the hard that we had at Bathurst which was just a lot more difficult.”

Having already cut laps in evaluation days, Nash Morris enjoyed his first official session as a PremiAir co-driver with Richie Stanaway.

“I am feeling pretty good. I have done a lot of laps today and a lot of learning,” he said.

“It is pretty cool to learn from Richie Stanaway who has won Bathurst and the Sandown endurance event.

“We have pretty much ticked off all the boxes we could tick off today.

“We did a lot of driver change practice, fuel saving, race runs – pretty much all the stuff I need to do as a co-driver to do my job the best I can, and I am just really looking forward to it.”

BJR has a new-look co-driver line up in 2025 with more youngsters in the fold and some returning drivers.

Jack Smith is back in Supercars. Image: Pace Images/Supplied

Declan Fraser is in the #8 with Andre Heimgartner and felt comfortable instantly.

“It’s so good to be back with the crew,” he said.

“Car felt really good, and I felt comfortable straight out the gate. So credit to the boys and girls what they did over the weekend to get it to that point.

“So for us, moving forward it’s head down for Enduro season.

“Andre’s fighting for a finals position at the moment, so I’m gonna do everything in my power to make sure that he makes it.”

There will also be plenty of eyes on the #12 as Jack Smith makes a comeback after two years away.

He has been recently racing in Trans Am and enjoyed racing a Supercar again.

“It feels good to be back in the car and getting back in the swing of it, learning some new little bits and pieces that,” Smith said.

“Coming to grips with how the team’s working and some procedural stuff. Overall it was a good day.

“I feel like I’ve got up to a reasonable speed and we’re in a good starting point for the enduros.”

Main image: DMAC Photography

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How teams unpacked Supercars test

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