THE engineering musical chairs at the Blanchard Racing Team has continued, with an experienced combination drafted in to guide Tim Slade through the Sandown SuperSprint.
With Mirko De Rosa (back injury) out of action, team manager Brendan Hogan had run point on the #3 CoolDrive Mustang at Townsville. Then at The Bend, former Walkinshaw Andretti United co-team principal Mathew Nilsson stepped in alongside Hogan.
However, none of those three are available this weekend, with De Rosa recovering from surgery, Hogan unwell, and Nilsson returning to his Super2 commitments with Eggleston Motorsport’s Cameron Crick.
That’s seen team owner Tim Blanchard turn to Chris Fitzgerald and Wally Storey as interim race engineer and data engineer, respectively.
Fitzgerald has prior Supercars experience at Perkins Engineering and Kelly Racing, while Storey’s vast success in the industry most famously includes involvement in the Holden Racing Team’s 1990 Bathurst 1000 triumph.
“Unfortunately it was a bit of a last-minute thing with Brendan being unwell, so we brought in Chris Fitzgerald who has got quite a bit of experience with GT and some previous experience in Supercars, and we’ve got Wally Storey helping us out this weekend,” Blanchard told V8 Sleuth.
“Wally has done a bit of stuff with us over the last year or two so he’s not completely new to the team.
“Wally was my engineer when I was driving at Brad Jones Racing and Sladey was my teammate, so both of us know Wally quite well and have worked with him quite a lot, and Sladey has worked with Chris doing some of the LMP3/Dutton stuff.
“So they’re kind of new faces this weekend but they’re not completely new faces to the team.
“It’s never ideal but we have still got all our procedures and stuff in place and the core of the crew is still here, so we’ll just be head down and make the most of what’s a tough situation.
“Wally probably won’t mind me saying he’s the old, wise head, so Chris will run the car with Wally just assisting him, and tapping into some of Wally’s long knowledge of Supercars.”
In less than two months, Storey will be involved in the Matt Chahda Motorsport wildcard to compete in the Repco Bathurst 1000.
