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Tim's team: Timeline of Supercars' newest squad

27 Jan 2021
Blanchard Racing Team makes the step up in 2021
3 mins by James Pavey

The 2021 Repco Supercars Championship will see a new team on the grid, albeit with some familiar faces.

Tim Blanchard has owned a Racing Entitlements Contract since 2017, and raced a car out of the Brad Jones Racing stable.

In 2021, the Blanchard family are going it alone, and have leased a pair of Tickford Racing-built Ford Mustangs from Phil Munday.

  • CoolDrive Racing launches in 2021

This year, Blanchard Racing Team, backed by family business CoolDrive Auto Parts, will be a fully-fledged Supercars outfit.

Blanchard, a former full-time driver himself, will run the Melbourne-based operation out of CoolDrive's head office.

He has already landed several coups, with two-time race winner Tim Slade to be engineered by Mirko De Rosa, with Brendan Hogan to manage the team.

The first season of the operation under the BJR banner, in 2017, saw Blanchard continue with the team albeit with the REC purchased from Super Black Racing.

It came after Jason Bright moved his Britek Motorsport REC, that previously underpinned the CoolDrive entry, to Prodrive Racing Australia.

Blanchard, who had previous stints at Kelly Racing, Dick Johnson Racing and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, recorded a best result of 10th at Sydney Motorsport Park.

However, in a year Blanchard finished 22nd overall, the entry's biggest headline was produced by a horrifying Sandown accident for co-driver Todd Hazelwood.

Blanchard returned in 2018, but slumped to 24th overall, his best finish an 11th at Albert Park. At Bathurst, he only managed 18th, and two laps off the pace, with Dale Wood.

Blanchard's full-time retirement, five years after his full-time debut with Dick Johnson Racing, opened the door for Macauley Jones to make his full-time debut in 2019.

Jones, son of BJR owner Brad, had a turbulent season en route to 21st in the standings, with his season punctuated by a heavy accident at the Adelaide season opener.

Not content with retirement, Blanchard returned for a wildcard at the Perth night event, with the former Australian Formula Ford Championship winner steering a striking silver Petronas-backed Commodore out of the BJR garage.

The 2020 season saw Jones finish 19th overall, with his highlight an eighth place finish at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Jones' career-best performance came with the young gun using two sets of soft tyress. It could have been even better, with Jones overtaken on the last lap by Fabian Coulthard.

The final race before the Blanchards went it alone, the 2020 season-ending Bathurst 1000, saw Jones and Blanchard finish 13th, having started 17th.

Having learnt plenty during his time running out the BJR stable, Blanchard told Supercars.com last year that he knew what it took to build the framework of a stable team.

"We've still got to work out exactly how we're going to have the team set up for next year and what structure and level of involvement people are going to have, including myself," he said.

"We've obviously had a very good relationship the last five years with Brad Jones and also Macauley in the last two years.

"We've definitely learnt a lot by dealing with those guys."

The new team will make its competitive debut at next month's Repco Mt Panorama 500. Tickets are on sale now.

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