Dane clarifies Bathurst 1000 wildcard role

Jess Dane has clarified her role in the Triple Eight’s Bathurst wildcard entry.

Dane will again take on a deputy Team Manager role for Triple Eight's Bathurst 1000 wildcard.

The wildcard will be raced by seven-time Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes and rookie Declan Fraser.

Lowndes and Fraser completed their first test day on Wednesday.

Former Triple Eight team boss Roland Dane will be the wildcard's Team Manager.

It comes after managed SunEnergy1 Racing's LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour victory bid.

Daughter Jess will tackle double duties at Mount Panorama; she is also managing Triple Eight's two-car Super2 squad.

Speaking during the wildcard test day at Queensland Raceway, Dane junior explained her involvement.

"For the wildcard this year at Bathurst, I will be deputy to my father Roland, he is officially the manager," Dane told Supercars.com.

"He is team manager by title, but as everyone knows, he is not in the office that much these days, so I'm managing the day-to-day stuff leading into the event.

"[I’ll be] organising everything from test days and working with our crew chief, Chris Goossen, and team manager, Mark Dutton to work out crews.

"Between all of the various categories that we're doing it’s been difficult to pull the people together and make sure everyone's in the country at the same time to do test days and everything else.

"I’m trying to coordinate the drivers basically and getting all the moving parts lined up in a row ahead of the big day."

The 31-year-old is of two key female figures in the wildcard programme, with Dane joined by chief race engineer Romy Mayer.

Mayer will graduate from her previous role as data engineer to skipper the #888 Commodore.

German-born Mayer has long been part of Triple Eight; in fact, her first event with the team was the 2015 Great Race.

However, this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000 marks Mayer’s first event as a chief engineer.

"It’s really exciting," Dane said.

"Romy has done a fantastic job over the years that she's been with us.

"She's not only a proven engineer, she's also a mum now, which I think is awesome.

"I don't know how she juggles everything. I am always in awe of Romy.

"She's worked bloody hard over the years, and she's putting in a lot of effort.

"Romy is really excited to come back into a race engineering role, and I think she's going to smash it."

In another first for the wildcard programme, Wednesday’s running marked Fraser’s maiden laps in a ZB Commodore.

Lowndes and Fraser with engineer Mayer

Tutored by Lowndes, the young Queenslander impressed with his ability to adapt quickly.

"Craig and Declan are both really amped up and excited to be part of this,” Dane said.

"Craig is fantastic at working with the young drivers and he's really getting on with Declan really well.

"Declan is taking all the opportunities to learn from Craig and the rest of the Triple Eight Race Engineering crew.

"Everyone will have seen him all the Red Bull Ampol races over the season so far.

"He's just absorbing everything like a sponge, so it's awesome to see him get this opportunity and absolutely make the most of it.

"He's got a fantastic mentor coming into this with Craig, who if you want anyone in your corner around the Mountain is him."

Tickets for this year's Repco Bathurst 1000 are on sale now.