HIS first two Gen3 test days are complete; now it’s full steam ahead for the Sandown 500 where Aaron Love will make his Repco Supercars Championship debut.
Love and co-driver Jake Kostecki got to grips with their brand-new #7 Blanchard Racing Team Mustang, hitting the track at Winton on both Monday and Wednesday.
Love, 21, had only previously completed five laps in a Gen3 Supercar, via a Sydney Motorsport Park ride day with passengers aboard.
“It’s relatively similar to the Super2 car but it has got a fair few different traits to it,” he told V8 Sleuth of his initial impressions.
“The rear likes to move around a lot more because of the lack of aero grip on the rear axle… I think it is fairly similar to the old (Porsche) Cup car that I used to drive in that you have to put a fair bit of trust into the car that it has got the grip to hold it.
“But jumping out of the Super2 car where you have got something with massive wings on it, it took a little bit of getting used to.
“Overall the two days were very productive, the team was able to iron out a few little niggling issues within the car, so to be able to make sure that we got those out of the way and all sorted ahead of Sandown is really comforting.
“We can go in there with full confidence that the car is going to be ready to take on the challenge but also for me and Jake to do two days in the car, we know what the job is at hand when we jump into the car and try to deliver a result.”
Whether or not the BRT wildcard uses the third and final test day at its disposal remains to be seen; regardless, Love continues to be blown away by what the little Box Hill team can do.
In addition to being a Super2 frontrunner and spearheading a main game wildcard at Sandown and Bathurst, there’s plenty of talk that Love will end up full-time next year when BRT expands.
All up, it’s an exciting time for the Western Australian product, and vindication of his decision to focus his career on Supercars after dabbling overseas with a Carrera Cup France campaign last year.
“It’s been a journey so far (with BRT) and hopefully we can continue that journey in Supercars,” said Love, who thanked the Blanchards for the faith they’ve already shown in him.
“Obviously that was the reason I came back to Australia; I had a long think and decided that Supercars and racing in Australia is where I could see me enjoying my racing career the most.
“I didn’t really enjoy Europe racing as much as I thought I would when I first went over there, so to be able to get these opportunities and continue going forward in something that I enjoy doing, it’s a lot of fun and really exciting.
“Hopefully this journey continues and if by chance we were able to take that next further step, then I would definitely take it with both hands and run with it as fast as I could.”
It is a divergence from the career path taken by older brother Jordan, the 2019 Carrera Cup Australia champion who is now based abroad as a Mercedes-AMG professional junior driver.
“Obviously I speak to Jordan quite a fair bit, he’s my brother after all,” said Aaron.
“The whole thing of racing in Europe, it’s for some people and not for others. I know for Jordan, he loves it and for people like Jaxon Evans and Matt Campbell, they obviously love it too.
“I went over there and being able to get a first-hand experience of what it’s like, you don’t really get to see that coming from Australia until you’re over there and go and live and breathe it.
“For me it just didn’t quite sit as nicely as racing in Australia and having the goal to do Supercars.
“So, that’s pretty much why I came back, in a nutshell.”
BRT is due to unveil its Sandown 500 wildcard livery tomorrow.
