DICK Johnson Racing is expected to promote from within to fill the position of race engineer for its Repco Bathurst 1000 wildcard.
V8 Sleuth understands Ed Williams is set to guide the #98 Shell Mustang of Kai Allen and Simona De Silvestro.
DJR boasts significant brainpower within its ranks, including race engineers Ludo Lacroix (#11 Anton De Pasquale/Tony D’Alberto) and Richard Harris (#17 Will Davison/Alex Davison), technical director Mark Fenning, and chief engineer Perry Kapper, among others.
Both Fenning and Kapper filled in at race meetings last year but DJR will take this opportunity to blood Williams, in line with it also being a chance for another rising star in Allen.
Williams is in his seventh season in Supercars, all of which have been as a DJR design/performance/data engineer.
Having been shaken down last month by Jett Johnson and Valentino Astuti, the #98 Mustang yesterday completed its first official test.
That came with only Allen on hand, given De Silvestro is still yet to arrive in Australia following an unscheduled operation to remove her appendix.
Unlike Triple Eight and the Blanchard Racing Team’s wildcards, DJR’s additional car is not entered in next week’s Sandown 500, affording extra time before its competitive debut at Mount Panorama on October 5-8.
Allen and De Silvestro are expected to complete two tests between now and then, with a race livery to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
