MSR to blood rookie in Winton practice

Dunlop Super2 Series rookie Joel Heinrich will take part in a Virgin Australia Supercars Championship session for the first time at the Truck Assist Winton SuperSprint.

The 23-year-old is set to steer Todd Hazelwood’s #35 ZB Commodore in the 30-minute hitout on Saturday morning.

Heinrich is this year racing an MSR-run FG X Falcon in Super2, after winning the Aussie Racing Car Series in 2018.

Although MSR is yet to confirm a PIRTEK Enduro Cup co-driver, the team has stressed that the Winton run is not an evaluation for the drive.

“We’re running Joel in the additional driver session purely from a development point of view,” an MSR spokesperson told Supercars.com.

“We haven’t locked in a co-driver yet; this is really about us continuing our development program with Joel.

“We’re very happy with his progress in the Dunlop Super2 Series.

“He made good progress at our last test day a couple of weeks ago and we want to continue to give him every opportunity to get behind the wheel of a Supercar.”

Heinrich is currently 17th in the Super2 standings, matching Hazelwood’s position in the main game points.

Heinrich and Hazelwood

Work in progress

MSR is one of few squads yet to lock in its PIRTEK Enduro Cup partnership, with the team still in conversation with multiple drivers.

Hazelwood’s co-driver from 2018, Bryce Fullwood, is expected to land at Kelly Racing after switching from MSR to a Matt White Motorsport Nissan in Super2.

MSR’s current Super2 spearhead Ash Walsh is meanwhile committed to Brad Jones Racing, again sharing with Tim Slade.

Hazelwood, who debuted in the 2017 Enduro Cup as a BJR co-driver before stepping up to the main game full-time last year, hopes to know the outcome of discussions soon.

“There are some really good drivers out there, hopefully soon we can lock something in, but it’s up to the team now to see what they want to do,” said Hazelwood.

“They know what my preferences are, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”