Why Blanchard isn't panicking despite dip

While results and luck deserted the Blanchard Racing Team in Townsville, team boss Tim Blanchard was at least encouraged by a return of speed in his Mustangs.

James Golding and Aaron Cameron were both caught up in incidents across the weekend — including one with each other — on what proved a bruising outing at Reid Park.

Golding was hit by Cameron on lap 1 in the Saturday race, with both drivers on the receiving end of a concertina that featured contact from eventual runner-up Anton De Pasquale.

Come Sunday, and both BRT Mustangs were turned around on lap 1. Golding survived, but was knocked out of the top 10 in the championship. Cameron, though, was forced into retirement.

Key to the team's run of outs has been a major dip in qualifying — after delivering a team qualifying average of 7.1 across Sydney, Melbourne, Taupō and Christchurch, results in Tasmania, Darwin and Townsville have delivered an average of 15.6.

"We had reasonable pace at times, but just struggled to put it together over the weekend for various reasons,” Blanchard said.

"Darwin was a bit of a struggle and we worried it might be a trend, so it was encouraging to get back to the speed we had earlier in the year.

"We’ve got nothing to show for it, but the pace was strong and that encourages us that we’ll be competitive at the next few rounds."

The next stop in Perth was a good one for BRT last year, when James Courtney claimed the Melbourne team's first podium in Supercars.

While Golding is now out of the 10 — albeit by just 11 points — Blanchard is keen to get to Motormall Wanneroo Raceway and reveal how far the team has come since its breakthrough.

"James Courtney got a podium for us in Perth last year and that was where we started to turn things around," Blanchard continued.

"So it will be good to go back there and see what we’ve learned over the past 12 months.”