The Sydney swing that shows how far BRT has come
BRT has "definitely taken a step forward", says Tim Blanchard
James Courtney gained 26 spots in three races, sits 12th in points
Ford squad was last, drivers 22nd and 24th at 2024 Sydney event
That glaring qualifying clash aside, the Thrifty Sydney 500 - Opening Round marked a big step forward for the Blanchard Racing Team as it kicked off its second year as a two-car team.
Of the 25 cars entered in last July's Sydney round, James Courtney was 22nd and then rookie Aaron Love 24th, with 78 and 66 points to their name.
Only Tickford Racing wildcard Lochie Dalton and Erebus Motorsport's Jack Le Brocq, who suffered an engine-related DNF, scored fewer points.
BRT, meanwhile, tallied 144 points for the whole weekend, by far and away the smallest haul of all teams.
In a huge turnaround, Courtney left Sydney last weekend 12th in the points standings. Crucially, the 2010 champion is just 21 points away from 10th, which come October, could be the last spot up for grabs for the Finals.
The scarcely-believable qualifying collision between Love and Courtney threatened to overshadow the team's weekend, with a brake failure sending Love into the barriers at the pre-season test.
Courtney, who will retire at the end of the season, made up a whopping 26 positions across the three races, charging from 21st to 17th, 25th to 11th and 20th to 12th.
There's still work to be done on Love's side of the garage, with the sophomore driver 23rd overall with results of 24th, 16th and 25th. Ironically, Love's best result came in a race he was sent to last in a first-lap spin on Saturday.
Team boss Blanchard was happy to have made strides, but admitted the team needs to make more gains in qualifying in particular.
"We have definitely taken a step forward, especially on James Courtney’s car," Blanchard said.
"To have him sitting 12th in the championship after the first weekend is really satisfying. It’s a good outcome.
"We were struggling a bit in qualifying but happy to convert that into decent race results.
"Sydney was our worst round last year so we’ve showed we have made significant steps forward and now we need to keep that momentum going."
The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Melbourne SuperSprint, which will feature at the Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix 2025 on March 13-16.
