Next steps: Why Gen3 cars are being taken to Winton

A crucial next step of the Gen3 testing programme is taking the prototypes to new circuits.

So far, the Camaro and Mustang prototypes have been tested at Queensland Raceway.

The cars returned to the Ipswich venue on Friday, with the Mustang joining the Camaro in having clocked over 1000km of running.

Supercars will take the Gen3 prototypes to Winton Motor Raceway later this month.

The rural Victorian circuit will host pre-season testing across February 22-23.

It is also slated to host the fifth round of the 2022 Repco Supercars Champonship in May.

The Winton test will mark the first time both Gen3 and current Gen2 machinery will be on track at the same time.

"We're going to try and cycle as many drivers as we can, and we have engineers here from other teams," Supercars motorsport head Adrian Burgess told Supercars.com.

"We want to get as many people as possible from the paddock involved and onboard, which everybody is.

"It's a great programme, which I'm glad to be involved in.

"After Queensland Raceway we will go to Victoria, where we can get some of the Victorian teams and their drivers through the car, and their engineers contributing and getting involved in the programme."

As of Friday’s test, the likes of Shane van Gisbergen, Broc Feeney, Anton De Pasquale, Will Davison, James Courtney, Brodie Kostecki, Will Brown and Tim Slade have driven the prototypes.

Taking the cars to Winton allows Victorian teams and their drivers to have a turn at getting to know the new machinery.

The compact Winton circuit will also provide a new challenge for the prototypes, which will aid Supercars’ quest to fine-tune the cars for different venues.

The cars will then be taken to Sydney Motorsport Park, which will host the season-opening round on March 4-6.

From there, the plan is to take the cars to more circuits, with on-track exhibitions to be carried out at events throughout 2022.

It will also help Supercars achieve its objective of obtaining a read on how the Gen3 cars behave in dirty air.

"Traditionally, Winton's been a little bit harder on the transmissions, so it will just give us a different set of data and a different group of considerations for the car to go through," Burgess said.

"It's a different track layout too, so we can test brakes and tyres and try to get the car in the window in terms of what we need.

"Then after Winton, we will be headed to Sydney Motorsport Park.

"We've got a good high-speed Turn 1 and a high degradation circuit. It'll be interesting there to see how the cars respond.

"Then eventually we will go to Tassie, and we're going to the Grand Prix so we've got a full programme.

"Once we get through all this, we will have had nearly all the drivers through the car and given everybody good access to come and see what we're doing and get involved."

The Gen3 Camaro and Mustang will debut in the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship.

The 13-event 2022 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Sydney in March. CLICK HERE to purchase your tickets.