Back in business

Cameron McConville is excited to contest his first Supercars race in four years – as long as he stays away from his old office.

After retiring from racing, in 2013 McConville took up the role of Driving Standards Observer – the category’s top cop (now filled by Jason Bargwanna).

From there he went on to be CAMS General Manager of Motorsport Development, a role overseeing its driver development program and the Formula 4 Championship.

Missing the drivers' seat, McConville now wants to revisit his racing career – and it hasn’t taken long to find an opportunity, pairing up with Nick Percat for Sandown and hoping to assist Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport behind the scenes, given his experience as a driver mentor over the years.

“There’s no doubt I’ve missed it and I’ve just been able to create the right work-life balance so I can get back in and do some racing,” McConville told supercars.com.

“It’s certainly a little bit of a surprise this late in the piece there’s an enduro seat available. I decided it’s a good toe back in the water, just doing Sandown and getting myself back out in that space at all.”

The 2004 Winton race winner admits there will be some cobwebs to shake off at LDM’s test and ride days pre-Sandown, but he’s confident he can perform and stay out of the new DSO’s way.

“That’s exactly right, I don’t want to be going in and seeing anyone from CAMS!” he laughed.

“That should be fine. And look, Sandown – obviously I’m Melbourne-based so it’s an easy event to slide back into.”

McConville’s best result at Sandown came in 1998, earning third with John Bowe – McConville’s last outing in a Ford.

Oliver Gavin pairs with Percat for the other two endurance events, so at this stage it’s just a one-off for McConville, who has upped his training, and also plays in an over 35s AFL footy team.    

“It’s just the one [event] for now. I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew just yet. No doubt I’ve got to get rid of some cobwebs first...

“I’m quietly optimistic we’ll get through Sandown ok, have a good weekend and then I’ll gauge it from there.

“I don’t want to use the old footy cliché ‘one event at a time’ or ‘one week at a time’ but there’s no plans at this stage post-Sandown.

"But if that all goes well then I’m certainly open to what other opportunities may well present down the track.”

McConville stepped in with LDM in Townsville back in 2010, so he has a connection with the team and is looking forward to seeing how they have evolved now it is a two car group. 

“Having driven the car, it feels like all the attributes are there – although I haven’t had a lot of experience with the car of the future,” he said. 

“It’s a good young team. Chris Stuckey who engineers Nick’s car has got a lot of experience and I’ve quite enjoyed my short time working with him so I’m really looking forward to it. I suppose I feel quite rejuvenated having been out of the V8 scene for a while.

“Now I'm not working for CAMS and in the industry, it gives me the opportunity to come back and compete again, which is what I have been trying to achieve for some time…

“Hopefully I can hold my end up for Nick and give him a good start to the enduros – which is probably what the team needs, a bit of a reboot in the second half of the year.”

McConville has steered the LDM car at the additional driver sessions at Winton and Queensland Raceway, and will take part in a ride and test day before the Wilson Security Sandown 500, from September 16-18.