What we learned from Winton pre-season test
Southern state teams tackled a hot Winton Motor Raceway in pre-season testing on Tuesday.
Tickford Racing, Walkinshaw Andretti United, Erebus Motorsport, Brad Jones Racing, Team 18, Grove Racing and the Blanchard Racing Team hit the track.
The dry Victorian heat was a far cry from the overcast conditions which greeted teams at Queensland Raceway last week.
Victorian teams, however, sampled almost identical conditions at the corresponding test 368 days earlier.
PremiAir Racing, which will be based out of the Gold Coast, will complete 10-lap shakedown in Ipswich later on Wednesday.
The next stop will be Sydney Motorsport Park, which will open the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship.
Ahead of next week's Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight, here are five things Supercars.com learned from yesterday's running at Winton.
WAU 'weapon' gets Percat's nod of approval
After five years in BJR Commodores, Nick Percat's eyes were wide open when he took to his new Mobil 1 NTI WAU car.
After just a few laps, Percat was excited by the capabilities of his new "weapon".
The next step is ensuring he makes it work and helps Bathurst winner Chaz Mostert push WAU to championship glory.
There's even more scope for WAU to be happy, with coup co-driver signing Fabian Coulthard turning his first laps in Mostert's car.
"Even after a few laps, it was pretty exciting," Percat told Supercars.com.
"The way the WAU car is set-up versus the BJR is a lot different.
"I need to be at least close to what [Mostert's] doing... I don't need to re-engineer the thing and get distracted."
Variety and change could spice up Tickford
Tickford will be blessed with four very different drivers in 2022.
James Courtney will turn 42 this year, and is closer to the end than the beginning of his career.
Conversely, Jake Kostecki just turned 22, and his youthful exuberance was on show early on when he surfed the Turn 5 infield.
Cam Waters returns for a seventh season in Monster colours, alongside fellow former Super2 champion Thomas Randle.
The team confirmed its engineering line-up, with de facto team leader Waters staying with Sam Potter.
Apart from Kostecki's off-track excursion, Tuesday was a solid day for Tickford.
Whether the team adds to its 2015 championship is incumbent on if they put their eggs in the Waters basket, the driver having already identified his biggest threats.
Erebus serious about its chances
Erebus Motorsport finished 2021 with a wet sail.
Will Brown won in Sydney and scored Bathurst provisional pole, before Brodie Kostecki claimed a Great Race trophy.
On Tuesday, with new Boost Mobile naming rights and livery in tow, Erebus dropped in fast times.
The team even handed co-drivers Jack Perkins and David Russell some laps.
Few drivers hit the rev limiter into Turn 1 harder and more consistently than Kostecki, who reiterated his belief that more wins are on the table for the team in 2022.
Having completed testing strongly, Erebus could prove a handful come next weekend in Sydney.
"[Sydney Motorsport Park] has been a good venue for us," Kostecki said.
"Pretty excited to go to SMP; hopefully we can continue the momentum we found there and carried into Bathurst.
"We set the bar high coming into this year; the cars were really fast towards the back half of last year."
Holdsworth braced for adjustment
It was a busy day for Grove Racing, which completed big programmes for David Reynolds and recruit Lee Holdsworth.
With incoming team principal David Cauchi in attendance, the Penrite Fords were put to work in the heat.
Holdsworth, who won Bathurst as a co-driver three months ago, steps back into the full-time hot seat.
It was literally a hot seat for Holdsworth, with neither Penrite Ford using a coolsuit system on Tuesday.
It ensures Holdsworth will have his fitness more than sharpened for the dual 300km races in Sydney next weekend, his first full-time starts in 15 months.
Watch out for Frosty?
Mark Winterbottom completed over 100 laps in his #18 IRWIN Commodore on Tuesday.
It left the 2015 champion pleased considering his car was rebuilt over the summer.
This season will be crucial in Winterbottom's motivation ahead of Gen3 in 2023; he hasn't scored a podium for Team 18 in three seasons.
"I thought we had a really productive morning, I guess everyone says that at test days," the 38-time race winner said.
"I can tell you I’ve driven away from here frustrated and disappointed before but I’m leaving here happy and pumped for the season.
"I think we’ve done a lot of work in the off season, my car is brand new and it felt great and to get back in it was fantastic.
The Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight will open the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship on March 4-6.
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