Productive test day for Volvo Polestar Racing ahead of endurance races

Regular drivers Scott McLaughlin and David Wall were joined with their respective co-drivers Alexandre Prémat and Chris Pither.

”Straight away Alex was comfortable and within ten to twenty laps he was basically on my pace. Today our main focus was to see that he was comfortable with the car and I think we’ve got a really good shot for the enduros,” said McLaughlin.

Today’s test was the first time back with Volvo Polestar Racing for Prémat since the Gold Coast 600 race last year where he claimed a podium finish with McLaughlin.

”It is like I never left V8 Supercars because I jumped in the car and bam, with the lap times, which was pretty good. It was super fast, I was as quick as Scotty, so I’m pretty happy with that! I’m looking forward to Sandown and to be racing… it feels like I never left the car,” said Prémat.

Pither returned behind the wheel of the #34 Volvo and Wall was pleased with his co-drivers’ progress.

”A good test today and good to get Chris some miles in the car which is what the day was about. We gave him the runs on proper tyres to make sure that he is comfortable and some long runs to make sure that he was comfortable over them. All in all we are in good shape heading to Sandown, I am looking forward to getting there as it one of the team’s home rounds but also one of the biggest events of the year,” said Wall.

McLaughlin and Prémat finished fifth overall in the Pirtek Endurance Cup last year and the Kiwi is aiming high for this year.

”We just got to push on and make sure our car is good. We tried a couple of things that we will have at Sandown and I think we made an improvement. There are big things to come and I am really excited,” said McLaughlin.

The endurance cup, which feature longer races with mandatory driver changes, starts with the Sandown 500, followed by the legendary Bathurst 1000 race and ends with the Gold Coast 600 street race.