McConville “sharp” ahead of Supercars race return

The 42-year-old has been signed up by LD Motorsport for the Sandown 500, grabbing the one-race vacancy alongside Nick Percat created thanks to Oliver Gavin’s World Endurance Championship clash.

While McConville has some recent miles in a Supercar thanks to practice laps at Winton and Queensland Raceway with LDM, the Sandown 500 will be his first actual Supercars race since 2012.

Despite the near-four-year gap between races, McConville says he’s done enough racing in other categories to keep his general race fitness up.

“Even though I haven’t driven in a Supercar event since Bathurst 2012, I have been doing some GT and Carrera Cup racing so have kept relatively race sharp,” said McConville.

“The recent co-driver session gave me a good feel of the car and to be honest it felt like yesterday that I was racing around Queensland Raceway.

“It’s certainly no full-time come back or anything like that, but the opportunity to help the team out with the absence of Oliver Gavin was too good to pass up.

“I have a lot of time for [team owner] Lucas [Dumbrell] and the whole team and what they are trying to achieve, so I’m super keen to help them get a result for Sandown.”

Gavin will return to the team to partner Percat in the #222 Commodore for the Bathurst and Gold Coast races.

“Unfortunately, Oliver had prior commitments with his team, Corvette Racing in the US, and we had to look for another driver to step in for the first round,” said Dumbrell.

“Cam has been with us before, he did a great job in both of the additional driver sessions and obviously has a vast experience in racing.”

McConville has subbed for LD Motorsport once before, stepping in to replace Daniel Gaunt at Townsville in 2010.