TIM Blanchard has admitted his team’s first step towards expanding its Repco Supercars Championship program has been far from easy.
The Blanchard Racing Team went out on its own at the start of 2021 as a single-car Ford squad and has this year started running two Mustangs, the second of which is competing in the Dunlop Super2 Series.
It’s essentially a half-step towards a mooted move to two main game entries in 2024, with BRT seeming to be the favourite for the 26th and final Teams Racing Charter.
“I wouldn’t say it has been easy,” Blanchard told V8 Sleuth of the Super2 addition.
“It has been quite a challenge and at this stage I’m thankful that we took the step of doing a car in Super2 rather than straight into two cars in the main series.
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“It’s a stepping stone, we have got some good people in that program now and some of them are pretty new to Supercars so it is good that we have got this year with the Super2 program to train them and prepare them for what might come.
“It has definitely been a challenge, putting on a Super2 program to what we were doing, but I think it was the right step for us in terms of a stepping stone to expand and grow the team.”
Despite any such difficulties, 2024 remains the target for the next step.
“That’s our intention but there’s still a lot of things that need to fall into place,” said Blanchard.
“Licences is just one of the parts that needs to fall into place for it to happen.
“Our intention is to run two cars and that’s what we’re working towards but it doesn’t mean it is going to happen.
“BRT is a small part of the wider CoolDrive business so there’s lots of opportunities to keep growing the BRT side of the business in the years to come, regardless of how many cars BRT are running in the main series.”
He also conceded it’s been a less than ideal start to their 2023 top-flight season.
The #3 CoolDrive Mustang was the first Gen3 car ready for pre-season testing, but Todd Hazelwood is just 19th in the points after two rounds.
“I don’t think it has been a particularly strong start for us,” said Blanchard.
“I think there has been potential but obviously we have had a few things go against us, some self-inflicted and some not.
“It hasn’t been a particularly strong start to the year but I think we have definitely shown at times our potential so it’s not doom and gloom.
“We’re learning more and more and getting a better understanding of what this car needs and Todd is learning about how BRT works and about how to drive this new-generation car.
“There’s just a lot of learning going on at the moment but I think we’ve shown that we can get it right, we just need to work out how to get it right on a consistent basis.”
Round 3 begins today at Wanneroo Raceway.
Super2 has already been on-track for opening practice, in which BRT’s Aaron Love placed fourth.
