BRT not fazed by Ford aero questions

The single-car squad is set to be the first Supercars team to run its Gen3 car when new signing Todd Hazelwood takes the wheel of the Mustang for a shakedown tomorrow.

As per the revised testing rules there is no distance limit in place for the shakedown with BRT free to turn as many laps as it likes.

Interestingly, the shakedown will take place ahead of the final homologation of the two Gen3 models as Ford continues address its own concerns over parity between the Mustang and the Camaro.

Motorsport.com understands there is still no firm outcome from last week's critical performance comparison test with the two prototypes at Queensland Raceway.

That means more last-minute aero testing, and subsequent changes to the Ford aero package, aren't off the table entirely.

However those question marks aren't an issue for BRT ahead of tomorrow's shakedown with team owner Tim Blanchard explaining the focus will be on reliability, not performance or set-up.

"I think if there are any changes [to the aero package] they will be minor," he told Motorsport.com.

"But first day with the car, realistically we're not fine-tuning it. We're just getting milage on the car and ironing out any issues that might arise.

"The focus will be reliability. Day 2, Day 3, that's when we start playing around with set-ups and things like that. But by that stage, those questions should be resolved.

"If they're not, everyone else will be in the same boat."

That BRT has a car ready to run has raised the eyebrows of some competitors, with Erebus boss Barry Ryan last week claiming that early testing would be an unfair advantage.

It has also prompted questions over how complete the car will be, in terms of homologated parts, amid speculation that some drawings are still being finalised.

One advantage BRT has is that it has only needed to build one car while others are building as many as four.

The wider CoolDrive business, owned and run by the Blanchard family, has also played a leading role in the manufacturing of control parts.

While Blanchard is adamant that BRT hasn't had access to CoolDrive-related components before any other team, and that those parts aren't responsible for any supply issues, he did explain that CoolDrive's deep ties to the automotive industry have proven helpful through the parts procurement process.

The rest of it, says Blanchard, is down to hard work.

"I think there's a number of things that have contributed," Blanchard said.

"We planned and started preparing for this project in August, September last year.

"It's been collaborative effort between the BRT and CoolDrive businesses and pulling this together by leveraging the relationship with CoolDrive. We obviously we have pretty strong product sourcing and technical support and logistics capabilities within the CoolDrive business, which has been beneficial.

"But we've also prepared extensively from Day 1 and it's a bit of old fashioned hard work. [Technical chief] Mirko [De Rosa] and the guys have done extraordinary hours and gone above and beyond to meet the deadline."