The Merc is under-rated from what I have seen. It has the pace to compete just not over 1 lap. Bad quali means bad rac in todays V8 Supercars, just look at Lowndes at Winton. At the back all weekend. Before Slade binned it at QR he was on the pace, closing in on Chaz.
Holdsworth and Baird are good steerers, especially come endurance time. Slade has been the best for Erebus this year and Andrew Thompson has shown he is a gun co-driver. SJ is always a threat at the mountain I just can't help but feel that Maro is going to let him down like Premat did with Perkins last year.
Erebus have a car that is capable, and with a little bit closer fuel efficiancy, they can compete. As a team, they know how to last the distance. The enduros don't need a spectacular quali effort either as there is always time to move forward. That will help the Mercs too.
The whole Erebus team is a great dark-horse this year.
As for the D'Alberto/Reid thing, D'Alberto has a really nice record at the three tracks the enduros are on this year. Johnny Reid was one of the best co-drivers last year because of his maturity behind the wheel and decent pace. Also, I have been a supporter of Tony for quite some time now and would really like to see him get up. I was a tad down when I heard Percat had gone back with Tander but Reid is pretty handy himself.
Enough of my blabber now. I am really excited this year, because Sandown will test reliabilty and there is so many people who could get up there!
I camp down at the chase!
I was so damn pumped last year watching Reynolds develop as a driver, he learned more about himself, his capabilities and we seen him mature to a new level right in front of us, it really wrote him into my book, considering he was struggling with the car all weekend,
You mention Jack Perkins, Poor lad has had a horrid run at it, my money for outside favorite could be on Mclaughlan/ Perkins, I hate to say it, there are so many variables to this 6 hour sprint race it leaves it wide open for everyone, specially with how delicate those new gearboxes are,
I camp a top the mountain, getting there early this year, want to get some good photo's of the cars before they get to the business end of the weekend,
Of course, I'm hoping Erebus get on the podium through out the enduros.
I believe Reynolds/Canto are due-THIS TIME.
Will Davison should have won the last two Bathurst's no thanks due to his co-drivers( his brakes did fail but, I lost confidence with that previous off). I won't put him on the top step this year either, because of his co-driver. Didn't Owen forget to pump the breaks last year? If Ford is in it next year and they keep Davison, Ford need to pair him with Ambrose or better.
The cars are different this year. I think the co-drivers will be even faster(more comfortable) with the better handling cars. If fuel won't be a problem, those NISSANS should be able to push hard while everyone else backs off.
I already expect HRT, BJR, RBRA to be fast. They just need to avoid playing mobile ping pong the whole 6 hours.
Its almost as if they hate Willy D, Youlden is quick but cant seem to keep it on the road, 2 years in a row for similar incidents?
As for Steve Owen, He did put his car in the top 10 shoot out in 2011, The unfortunate part is because of NASCAR's silly schedule, Ambrose would have to have such a shocker of a season up to this point to even think about leaving that pay check, but if he keeps the ball rolling the way he has this year into next year there is a good possibility he could make the chase,
There are several good seasoned drivers that can do the job, Steve Johnson would have been my first thought, David Brabham is available this year, Steve Ellery, Cameron Mclean, heck even Glenn Seaton is doing well in production car endurance racing,
If we want to get really silly Rinaldo Capello isn't busy either, Jason Plato also would be a darn great fit,
