New names for Phillip Island Gen3 test

A mixture of youth and experience will take to the Gen3 prototypes at Phillip Island next week.

Phillip Island will be the fourth circuit the prototypes have cut laps on.

The cars have previously lapped Bathurst’s Mount Panorama, Ipswich’s Queensland Raceway and Launceston’s Symmons Plains.

The sweeping Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit will host two days of prototype testing on Monday and Tuesday.

The running will be conducted after this weekend’s Beaurepaires Melbourne 400.

Brad Jones Racing duo Andre Heimgartner and Macauley Jones will turn laps in the Chevrolet Camaro prototype on Monday.

Team 18’s Scott Pye and PremiAir Racing’s Garry Jacobson will run the car on Tuesday.

Tickford Racing duo Thomas Randle and Jake Kostecki will steer the Ford Mustang prototype on Monday.

Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale, from Ford homologation team Dick Johnson Racing, will drive on Tuesday.

All bar Davison and De Pasquale have yet to lap the updated prototypes.

Phillip Island, known for its sweeping corners and high speeds, will provide the greatest test yet for the prototypes.

The cars were tested extensively at Queensland Raceway earlier this year before they recently turned laps in Tasmania.

Veterans Garth Tander and Marcos Ambrose also ran the prototypes at Symmons Plains before the two-day post-event test.

The cars are a far cry from the machines which rolled out at Mount Panorama last December.

They have since undergone a number of ergonomic tweaks to aid driver comfort and visibility.

The changes earned the tick of approval from points leader Shane van Gisbergen.

“The car feels completely different to what I drove [in testing],” he said.

"I’ll miss these cars at this track, but I'm sure next year’s cars will be better.

"The moves that they’re making and the things that they’re doing to Gen3 are all positive.

“It’s not perfect because it’s not set for me; there’s a few people driving it.

“If it was my car, I’d make it a little bit different again.

“The car still has some things we need to keep evolving… changes are happening.

“You want it to be raceable and hard to drive. I think they’re doing all the right things.”

The 2022 season will resume this weekend at the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400.