TIM Blanchard says Aaron Love is not yet the finished product but is showing all the right signs, as speculation swirls that he’ll be promoted to a main game seat next year.
The general consensus at the moment is that the Blanchard Racing Team will get its wish and expand to two cars for 2024, one of which will be for rookie Love.
Coming off a partial Carrera Cup Australia campaign in which he took 11 wins from 17 starts, Love has this year stepped up into Super2 with BRT.
Driving a Petronas-liveried Gen2 Mustang, the 21-year-old has been a consistent top six qualifier in a highly competitive field and has chalked up a pair of second-place finishes across the opening three rounds.
Love will make his Repco Supercars Championship debut next month, sharing a BRT wildcard with Jake Kostecki in the Sandown 500 and then Bathurst 1000.
Asked if Love is ready to go full-time in 2024, Blanchard told V8 Sleuth: “I think the second half of the year will answer a lot of those questions.
“First half of the year, everyone knows Supercars is quite different to Porsche or anything else, hence why a lot of people struggle initially and we don’t have a huge presence of internationals in our championship.
“He has been pretty good. The feedback has been really good and development has been really good.
“He is really getting his head around how this car works.
“There’s still a few areas he needs to improve on and take steps on, which he has worked really hard at, so we’re pleased with his progress so far but he will be the first to admit that he’s still got a bit more development to do.”
Love has added S5000 to his portfolio in recent times – including this weekend at The Bend – as he subs in for the sidelined Joey Mawson.
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Speculation has meanwhile suggested James Courtney might replace Todd Hazelwood in the Ford team’s lead car, as a wild silly season continues to unfold.
Should BRT compete in Super2 again next year, there’s an obvious candidate in the form of rising star Cameron McLeod.
Super3 sensation McLeod cut laps for BRT in the post-event Sydney Motorsport Park ride day on July 31.
“Cam’s doing a really good job in Super3. The relationship with Cam is through Ryan, his father, and the Racer Industries business which joined CoolDrive a year ago so it’s basically now part of the CoolDrive business,” said Blanchard.
“Both of Cam’s parents and his brother work at CoolDrive now, so he’s part of the CoolDrive family, if you like to say.
“Who knows what the future is for him and the team, but we’re happy to help him out where we can.”
