Co-drivers at the fore in enduro tests

Preparations for the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 and Repco Bathurst 1000 ramp up next week, all Supercars teams testing.

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship has switched to enduro mode after the first eight rounds, six of which were sprint rounds.

All championship squads will test either Monday September 4 or Tuesday September 5 next week.

On Tuesday, Winton is set to host Erebus Motorsport, Tickford Racing, Walkinshaw Andretti United, Penrite Racing, Brad Jones Racing, Team 18 and Blanchard Racing Team.

Triple Eight, Dick Johnson Racing, Matt Stone Racing and Nulon Racing will also hit the track on Tuesday, at Queensland Raceway. Triple Eight, DJR and BRT will also test their respective wildcard entries.

Triple Eight and BRT's additional cars for Craig Lowndes/Zane Goddard and Jake Kostecki/Aaron Love will compete at both enduros, with DJR (Simona De Silvestro/Kai Allen) only doing Bathurst.

Penrite Racing confirmed its pairings last week

Winton and Queensland Raceway will also be busy on Monday, with Erebus and Penrite Racing running driver evaluations. Erebus will hand laps to Super2 drivers Cooper Murray and Jay Hanson, and Penrite Racing to Kevin Estre.

Next week’s laps will be the first for Porsche star Estre, who has yet to sit in a Supercar. The Frenchman will partner Matt Payne in the #19 Penrite Ford Mustang.

Dunlop Series squads will also test, with WAU, Eggleston Motorsport, BJR, Matt Chahda Motorsport, Kelly Racing, McLeod Racing (all at Winton) and Nemo Racing (Queensland Raceway) all in action.

The tests are centred on giving co-drivers laps, as well as fine-tuning endurance pit stop procedures.

Just 11 driver line-ups have remained unchanged from 2022, with Estre one of three Bathurst rookies alongside Super2 duo Allen and Love.

Allen (DJR) and Love (BRT) will make their Bathurst debuts in their respective wildcards alongside De Silvestro and Jake Kostecki.

The 2023 co-driver class is headlined by Richie Stanaway, who will partner title contender Shane van Gisbergen, with Lee Holdsworth returning alongside Chaz Mostert.

Just 11 driver line-ups have remained unchanged from 2022

James Moffat remains alongside Cam Waters, with the duo racing to the Bathurst podium in 2021 and 2022.

The Waters/Moffat partnership is one of four strong combinations for Tickford, which is motivating team boss Tim Edwards to chase the team’s first enduro win since Gold Coast 2018.

“Yes, it comes down to the last hour or two of the race,” Edwards told the Schick Cool Down Lap podcast.

“But to be in the hunt for the last hour or two, you’ve got to have a good co-driver.

"We’ve got four fantastic co-drivers, and that’s difficult to pull off — we’re pretty happy about that.

“A lot’s got to go your way, particularly at Bathurst. But you’ve got to put yourself in the right place to start the weekend.

“So, to have the co-driver line-up we’ve got definitely puts us in the right place.”

The Penrite Oil Sandown 500 will be held on September 15-17, before the Repco Bathurst 1000 on October 5-8.

2023 enduro combinations

*Sandown and Bathurst wildcard

**Bathurst wildcard only