A FAMOUS number is set to return to the Supercars grid next month.
V8 Sleuth understands the Blanchard Racing Team has applied to run the #7 on its wildcard Mustang to be driven by Aaron Love and Jake Kostecki in the 2023 Sandown 500 and Repco Bathurst 1000.
BRT is racing the clock to complete the build of its second Gen3 Ford, which is due to test for the first time on September 4 – less than a fortnight before its racing debut at Sandown.
The #7 is one of the most commonly used numbers in ATCC/Supercars Championship history.
It has appeared in 914 of the 1142 championship races to date (80.04 percent).
That has produced a return of 21 championship race wins, including for the likes of Bob Jane, Bob Morris, Allan Moffat, Allan Grice and Wayne Gardner.
It has also twice been used to conquer the Great Race, with Steven Richards/Greg Murphy winning the 1999 edition for Gibson Motorsport, and Morris/John Fitzpatrick winning the 1976 visit to Mount Panorama.
In more recent times, the #7 has been associated with Todd Kelly.
Kelly first inherited #7 when he moved from the Holden Racing Team to Perkins Engineering in 2008, and continued donning it through nine subsequent seasons under the Kelly Racing banner.
It was then handed down to his successor Andre Heimgartner from 2018, before bowing out when the Grove family’s takeover of Kelly Racing was completed at the end of 2021.
It has not appeared in a Repco Supercars Championship race since.
