MSR planning return to multi-car Super2 effort

Matt Stone Racing is confident its Dunlop Super2 Series arm will revert to fielding multiple cars in 2019.

MSR has run two cars since 2012, including three last year, but has been back to a single Commodore for Bryce Fullwood for the second half of this season.

Fullwood, like Todd Hazelwood for MSR in the main game, started 2018 in an ex-DJR Team Penske Falcon but reverted to an ex-Triple Eight Commodore mid-year.

Matt Stone believes running a single car in Super2 has been a hindrance on top of its brand switch, with Fullwood only 17th in the standings entering the Newcastle finale.

"Our weakness this year has been only running one car, you don't have the benefit of having team-mates with multiple entries," Stone told Supercars.com.

"Bryce has been in larger teams in the past and I think it has been an adjustment for him and for us in not having those extra entries on the weekend to help bolster the performance.

"Main game will just be the single car, that's certain, but in Super2, absolutely we will be looking at running multiple entries.

"We currently have two VF Commodores and the Falcon, so it will be a combination of maybe two Commodores, there would only be a Falcon if we ran three entries."

Next month, MSR will give British racer Abbie Eaton her maiden miles in a Supercar, in a test at Queensland Raceway.

Fullwood, who contested the PIRTEK Enduro Cup with Hazelwood, and Stone

MSR's Falcons have been sidelined since mid-year, with Fullwood and then Hazelwood switching brands for their respective Townsville and Tailem Bend events.

One was expected to reappear in Newcastle in Super2 this weekend as an added entry alongside Fullwood's Commodore, before plans fell through.

Stone says his outfit's goal is to finalise next season's plans over the coming weeks, while Hazelwood is already confirmed as upgrading to a Triple Eight ZB.

It is set to field the 2018 Aussie Driver Search winner in the Super2 title-winning VF Commodore Hazelwood has spent the back half of the season in.

"Our intention is to get all our plans for next year locked away over the next two or three weeks," Stone said.

"Obviously we'd like to finish the year off on a high [in Newcastle] and make a good showing.

"We're really just planning on having a good run out there and obviously Bryce has done the enduros now, so we've got that over and done with and our focus is back on the final Super2 round.

"We were very strong in Super2 there last year with Todd in the Commodore and Bryce also had a good showing there when he raced there last year.

"I'd like to think that we're on for a good way to finish the year."

Hazelwood and MSR sealed the 2017 Dunlop Super2 Series crown in Newcastle last November with two wins, while Fullwood finished fifth and third in an MW Motorsport Nissan.