Scott McLaughlin has made the move to DJR Team Penske for the 2017 Supercars Championship after pending the past three seasons with Garry Rogers Motorsport. With eight race victories under his belt and a third place in the 2016 Championship, Scotty is hoping to challenge for the title this season and put DJR firmly back on the map.
However, that said, he knows that things will be different from what he is used to and he will need to focus on getting used to his new surroundings before really thinking about much else. Added to that is the fact that the Red Bull Holden Team is extremely strong and beating them this season will certainly be a challenge…
“I'm a racer and I want to challenge for the championship but you've got to be realistic and to be honest, I just want to get in the car and get a feel for everything and see where we are at,” he told Speedcafe. “It would be stupid not to aim for that but I think we've got to be realistic of where we are at the moment.”
“We need to get on the track and see what gains if any we have made in the off-season but I'm pretty confident we have made some. It's not just making the gains in the off-season, it's making the gains across the season and that's what Triple Eight and Prodrive a few years back were very good at. Just keep developing the cars to go faster and faster and that's probably one area we lacked at GRM.”
Scott's first taste of the number 17 DJRTP Ford is expected to come next month when the team undergoes their first official testing day, however the young Kiwi is hoping that talk of a ‘ride day' before then comes to fruition and he will be able to climb behind the wheel a bit sooner.
