Local hero Love eyes Perth advantage

Aaron Love is keen to ram home his local advantage when he makes his first Dunlop Series starts on West Aussie soil this weekend.

Love, who was born in Perth, is one of 14 rookies across the Super2 and Super3 fields.

The best of the rookies after Round 1 is Eggleston Motorsport's Cooper Murray, who won Race 1.

Murray became the ninth driver in history to win on his Super2 debut last month in Newcastle.

Love nearly backed it up a day later when he raced his Blanchard-prepared Petronas Mustang to second in Race 2.

The 21-year-old says a maiden win on home soil would be unforgettable, but is trying to avoid getting caught up in the hype.

“It’d definitely be something to remember if that’s the case,” Love told Supercars.com when asked about the prospect of a Perth win.

“Honestly, I want to try and get a good result no matter where the race is, whether that’s Perth or Newcastle.

“I remember coming to Barbagallo when I was young and seeing all the big names there.

“Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes, the Holden Racing Team era, cheering on Garth Tander who’s also from Perth.

“It’ll be hard trying not to get caught up in it all, racing there myself and having everyone around me.

“But being from Perth, hopefully I'll turn it all into an advantage.”

The best of the Super3 rookies is Erebus Academy South Australian youngster Jobe Stewart, who finished first and second in Newcastle.

From the top 12 drivers after Newcastle, seven had previous Super2 experience, and five are rookies — including Love.

However, none of the drivers in the field other than Super3 youngster Kai Allen have ever experienced a pole position or win at Wanneroo.

Doing so on home turf would mean a great deal to Love, who paid tribute to his team — which is also running a main game car for Todd Hazelwood.

“I want to pay the team back for the effort they’ve put in in the last 12 weeks, it’s been a mammoth effort,” Love said.

“If we can come away from this weekend with a great result, it would prove the high level everyone has put in.

“Newcastle was mixed, but second in Race 2 was a better reflection of what we’re capable of.

“It was good to at least get some results and come away saying, ‘We can do this, let’s keep on fighting’.

“It’s not always going to be an uphill battle, and to get results so early was a positive.

“The round being in Perth is a bonus, and it’s my biggest race at home yet, which will be cool to share with family and friends."

The combined Dunlop Super2 Series and Dunlop Super3 Series fields will be on track twice on Friday April 28 for practice.

They go straight into qualifying on Saturday morning before Race 1 on the Saturday.

There will be one final qualifying session on Sunday morning before Race 2 on the Sunday.

Super2 and Super3 drivers will tackle two timed 40-minute races.

All drivers will also feature in a signing session at the grassed area near General Admission on Saturday (12:40pm-1:10pm).

Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint: Session times

All times AWST

Friday, April 28

Saturday, April 29

Sunday, April 30