New Zealand’s small contingent of Supercar stars are due to begin their official pre-season testing from tomorrow, with the start of the 2021 season drawing nearer.
This year, unlike previous seasons, teams will be split on where they will be testing their 2021 challengers.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced Queensland-based teams and Team Sydney, to test at Ipswich’s Queensland Raceway tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Victorian-based teams and Brad Jones Racing will hit the track at Winton Motor Raceway next Tuesday.
For our three Kiwi drivers, the single-day test will likely be the last opportunity to iron out any early-season issues before the year’s first round at Mount Panorama later this month.
Shane van Gisbergen and Fabian Coulthard will get behind the wheel tomorrow from 11.30 am NZT, running until 8.00 pm.
Van Gisbergen was only guaranteed to partake in the test after the Australia-New Zealand travel bubble was restored earlier this month following a brief closure.
Both he and Andre Heimgartner were stranded at home and unable to return to Australia after competing in the New Zealand Grand Prix, an event van Gisbergen would win.
For Coulthard, tomorrow’s test will have added importance given this year sees him switch to Team Sydney after five seasons with Dick Johnson Racing.
He joins Garry Jacobson for the season and returns to the cockpit of a Holden for the first time since leaving Brad Jones Racing in 2015.
Heimgartner will have to wait until Tuesday to get his first hit out in the new Kelly Grove Mustang.
The actual car Heimgartner will be steering had a shakedown last week when team co-owner Rick Kelly cut a handful of laps at Phillip Island.
Both tests can be tuned in via live timing, though neither will be televised.