Mark Dutton, Team Manager for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team, gives an in depth preview of the upcoming Christchurch Super 440 round, and an insight in to team preparation ahead of the second race of the New Zealand double header.
Today, it’s Wednesday of race week, we’re setting up and servicing the #888 and the #88 cars today at Ruapuna ahead of the second event of this NZ double header. It’s been a few years since Supercars teams have been to a track they haven’t raced on before. That means no one has previous data or proven setups here. As a competitor we love these challenges, when everyone is basically starting from scratch, it’s a real test.
The track itself is quite technical, especially out of turn 4 then all the way to exiting turn 8, a small early mistake in that sequence of corners could result in a large time deficit as one corner flows into the next.
We’ve seen the Red Bull Ampol Racing cars fast at three different styles of tracks now in Sydney, Melbourne and Taupo. How important is having pace at both fast and slower, tyre friendly and high degradation circuits?
It’s critical, we need to be on the pace and able to tune our cars for all scenarios, this is easier said than done, the car performance between the teams is so tight, that the margin for error is so small.
Is the car performance ahead of where you thought it would be after the change to Ford Mustangs in 2026?
Definitely not ahead of schedule as we aren’t leading the Driver’s Championship, however we are extremely proud of where our performance is and what we have been able to achieve so early on in the season with the switch. With these cars, throughout the year, there is constant evolution, and refinement, you can never afford to be complacent and think you are in a sweet spot for the rest of the season.
There was again some bumper bashing in Taupo. Do you expect this to be the style of racing for the season and does that impact race strategy and approach?
We expect more rubbing in racing this year, just hope that it is kept hard but fair, and consistent.
This is the first Gen 3 Supercars race at Ruapuna. What have the team, Broc and Will done to prepare for next weekend?
I believe all or most the drivers in Supercars took the opportunity to do some laps in Ruapuna a few weeks back, whilst not in their Supercars, they all got to learn the circuit.
There are four races now in Ruapuna, with Friday added after Sundays race cancellation in Taupo. What are the key things the team and drivers need to consider with such a busy schedule and short turnarounds between sessions?
We have to be precise and follow our processes, and have our team mates backs more than ever when we’re on track so much so frequently over those three days of a race weekend.
Red Bull Ampol Racing are once again leading the Teams Championship. Outside of points and trophy, how important is front position in pit lane to the race team?
It is mega critical for us in so many ways. We use it as a constant reminder of our persistency in consistency, being the leading team in pitlane is our priority. Selfishly as car controller it makes my job in pitlane a little easier too.
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