CoolDrive confirms young gun for Super2 program

Blanchard Racing Team will expand to two cars for 2023, with confirmation that Aaron Love will join the squad in a CoolDrive Auto Parts-backed Ford Mustang in the Super2 Series.

The 20-year-old West Australian finished third in the 2018 Australian Formula 4 Championship, then worked through the Porsche development system. He finished second in the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, despite missing two events due to conflicting Porsche events in Europe.

From the 17 races contested locally this season, Love won 12 times and finished on the podium on two other occasions, in the process claiming the Enduro Cup.

Love’s Porsche campaign was orchestrated by Sonic Motor Racing Services, which has had a long-standing association with CoolDrive and the Blanchard family, with team co-principal, Tim Blanchard, winning the 2007 Australian Formula Ford Championship with the squad.

Love will campaign the chassis that the team used in the Supercars Championship during the past two seasons.

“We are excited to welcome a young talent like Aaron to BRT to contest the Super2 Series with us, he has dominated the rounds of the Carrera Cup he has competed in this year, and that is why we want him to be with us for years to come,” said Blanchard.

“This is an important step in the growth of BRT as we continue to expand with the hopes of moving to two cars in the main Supercars Championship in the near future.

“It is an opportunity to take a manageable step forward for our team without compromising our main series entry with Todd Hazelwood.

“We have been really impressed with Aaron to date, he has the right attitude and is really fast, the whole team can’t wait to see what he can do in a Supercar.”

For Love, the announcement marks the next phase of his meteoric rise up the motorsport ladder.

“After this year away racing in Europe it sparked a lot of questions within myself and where I want to end up racing, but it didn’t take me long to realise that I wanted to race at home and in Supercars,” said Love.

“The relationship with Tim and the whole BRT crew was already there with Sonic, so there hasn’t been much questioning from the start and as things have progressed it just made more and more sense, especially with the way they have been growing both on and off track.

“It will definitely be a challenge for myself and a new experience for the team racing in Super2, but I’m confident that we have all the tools and more to get us to where we need and want to be.

“The past year has been a huge learning and growing experience for me, and I wouldn’t change a thing knowing that it’s prepared me a lot for what is ahead.

“I’m really excited for the new journey back in Australia and in an area so different for myself and my family; we’ve never dealt with the Supercar pathway or even a Supercar before.

“There are a couple of sticks and an extra pedal that I’ve got to figure out what they do, but I’ve got some of the best people behind me to show me the way and I can’t wait to get started.”

The 2023 Super2 season is expected to kick off with the return to the streets of Newcastle from March 10 to 12.