Nervous Fraser steadies after first wildcard test

Nights of nerves for Declan Fraser were unwound after a "comfortable" first wildcard test day.

Fraser tested his Triple Eight wildcard Commodore for the first time on Wednesday.

The young Queenslander was joined at Queensland Raceway by co-driver Craig Lowndes and engineer Romy Mayer, among others.

Wednesday's running was Fraser's first in a ZB Commodore.

However, the biggest test was having the eagle eyes of Lowndes and Triple Eight on him.

Once at the track, Fraser was able to relax and get down to business.

"It wasn’t real until we were here at the track," Fraser told Supercars.com.

"I’ve had a couple of sleepless nights because I was so excited to get out here.

"I’ll definitely sleep very well tonight."

Fraser was tutored by Lowndes how to wrestle the lower-downforce ZB Commodore.

By day's end, Fraser was comfortable to a degree that he and Lowndes could focus on ergonomics and set-up.

Such was the speed of Fraser's learning, that Lowndes was vastly impressed.

"It’s been a pretty big learning curve, jumping from the VF to the ZB," Fraser said.

"We’ve done a lot of work around the aero and throttle application, braking too.

Lowndes and Fraser with engineer Mayer

"We’ve then moved into tuning the car and the ergonomics, Craig and I are quite similar.

"It’s a very comfortable environment, Craig, myself and Romy.

"It makes it so much easier when everyone’s on the same page.

"Having Craig there giving tips on terminology and how the car handles has been awesome."

Fraser will return to the seat of his VF Commodore for the third Super2 round in Townsville.

There, he will again hit sprint mode before a further two tests with Lowndes.

A long 161 laps around Mount Panorama looms as Fraser's biggest challenge yet.

However, he said he will be prepared for when the time comes, considering the testing and his own exercise programmes.

"I train with my mate Josh from 1 Percent Performance," Fraser explained.

"He knows exactly what it takes to be training people for the 1000.

"He’s got a programme together for me… as we get closer, we’ll amp it up more.

"At the moment, it’s focused on Super2, but we’ll focus on endurance later."

The 2022 season will resume at the NTI Townsville 500. Purchase your tickets now.

Tickets for this year's Repco Bathurst 1000 are on sale now.