WALKINSHAW Andretti United is starting to bear the fruits of its move to recruit Nick Percat into its Repco Supercars Championship driver line-up.
Percat by his own admission has had a torrid year in which one-lap pace has often eluded him, but a step in the right direction has been evident of late.
At two of the past three rounds, Tailem Bend and Pukekohe, he started every race inside the top 15.
That might seem a low benchmark, but the harsh reality is Percat’s average starting position across the four events (11 races) prior to The Bend was a measly 21.1.
Back to having a double-pronged attack, Walkinshaw Andretti United banked the second-most points of all two-car teams’ championship pairings at Pukekohe.
WAU team principal Bruce Stewart heaped praise on Percat, who turns 34 today, even if the results could have been better yet.
“We never lost faith in Nick’s ability,” Stewart told V8 Sleuth.
“He’s a super talented driver. We just had to find the best way for our team to work with Nick to unlock that, and in that respect we made some positive steps.
“We’re not there yet but I think we feel a lot more confident and excited about going to Bathurst with Car #2.”
A blockbuster finish to the 2022 season takes in Bathurst, Gold Coast and Adelaide – three circuits that have tended to be happy hunting grounds for WAU.
“We would like to think every track we should be strong at, but that hasn’t proven to be the case, so we don’t shy away from that,” said Stewart.
“But equally we have got a talented engineering team, very talented drivers, so yes, we could look at it and say these are strong tracks for us.
“Our sole focus right now is on Bathurst and doing the best job we can with both cars – fighting with two fists as we have spoken about.
“That is the aim and the reason we have got two A-grade drivers in our team.”
Next month at Mount Panorama will see 2021 Great Race winner Chaz Mostert joined by Fabian Coulthard in Car #25, while six-time Bathurst 1000 podium finisher Warren Luff will partner Percat.
