Supercars
It feels good to be back on the podium but there is always more to learn, right? Plus, I've been thinking, how would some of the best NASCAR drivers do in V8 Supercars?
G’day, guys.
Darwin is in the rear-view mirror, and it was relief just to win again — twice — and show that we're still in the hunt.
We obviously had a great start to the year — the first two rounds were really strong — but then the next two were sub-ideal. Will (Brown)'s obviously been doing such a good job, and the lead's just been extending. I really needed a round to bounce back and get some points back.
Some people have told me not to be so hard on myself, but I certainly didn't do a good enough job at Perth. There were a few minor things that I did wrong, but the way we were going with the car, I was probably struggling a little bit to adapt to it, and I feel like I lost my mojo a bit.
I’m pretty hard on myself. I think I’ve been like that since day dot. I don't think I’ll ever change. If I have a bad weekend, I want to know why and I want to know what I can differently at the next one. I need to understand things. I really don't like not answering a question from the previous round.
There was obviously a bit of stuff that went on in between Perth and Darwin. There was a lot of self-analysing. I spoke to a lot of people in the team. I’ve mentioned chatting with RD (Roland Dane). But it was just about really being myself again and just having some fun on the weekend.
To rock up in Darwin and be right in the mix on day one just boosted my team's confidence that we can do it.
Then we had such a good base for the rest of the weekend, and to just continue that trend all weekend was the biggest thing from the weekend that I’d take away. It's the first time in my career I’ve won back to back. I certainly had the speed to do it earlier in the year, but I didn’t execute, so to do two complete days —two shootouts, a pole and two wins — I think just shows how much of a good weekend we had.
It's still a learning process for me, certainly this year. Last year probably not everyone expected me to be winning and be in the championship fight. I was the underdog. Now it's just me and Will and Chaz (Mostert) going at it, and it’s different, but it’s just about going and enjoying being in the fight and taking on every challenge that hits you.
Away from Darwin, it’s been awesome to see some of our guys heading over to NASCAR and raising awareness of what we do.
I’ve been loving watching Shane (van Gisbergen) adapt to ovals and having so much fun over there, and it was great to see Cam (Waters) and Will go over recently. It’s just awesome to see how much support there is. The Aussies really get behind it, and as Will said, the amount of Americans that knew who he was because they watched Supercars over there is crazy. It's pretty cool to see that our sport’s growing, and the more that people go over, the more it’s just building Supercars up.
I would love to see people from all disciplines come and drive our cars too. We get to mix in a bit of the stuff that they do, but I think it would grow the sport in a much better way if other people could come and drive it and see what it's like.
I think a lot of them — I probably shouldn't say scared! — are worried on how they’d go because our cars are so raw. I think a lot of them would love to drive one, but it's just such a such a different beast — you’ve got the sequential shifter, you've got to use the clutch, you’re worried about locking wheels, you’re doing heel-and-toe — but, honestly, some of the guys I’ve raced with overseas are extremely talented and more than capable of coming and learning to be right at the top in Supercars.
How do we get it done? You couldn't rock up just for a race meeting. If it’s not your discipline, I think it'd be super hard. I joked that Supercars should hold a test day at Winton or QR three days after the Bathurst 12 Hour and just have heaps of international drivers drive it. That’d be one way.
But I think really the only way that it works is like how Kévin Estre came and drove last year for Grove — he did a great job. You need a bit of time and a team with a bit of faith to set up a few test days.
I think once the door opens, then there'd be more overseas guys who come, but it's just about them getting seat time. It's a hard one, but I’d love to see more guys come and drive our cars, because I think what we’ve got going on here is really cool and we probably don't appreciate it enough.
Next up is Townsville — long races again, which I’m excited for. They’re tough on the body and on the cars, and strategy comes into play. I’m really excited for that.
See you up there.
Cheers,
Broc
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