New Zealand’s sole and recently established V8Supercar team, Super Black Racing, can now confirm it has teamed up with Prodrive Racing (Australia) (PRA) for the 2015 V8Supercars Championship (V8SC), making it one of the four cars fielded by the back-to-back Bathurst winning team.
After a successful debut at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with support from PRA in 2014, Super Black Racing made the decision to continue using PRA for technical support and services during the 2015 V8SC campaign resulting in the pit garage position.
Super Black Racing team owner, Tony Lentino, says: “After we had such a good experience with PRA at Bathurst last year, it was an easy decision to carry on with them this season in a greater capacity.
“They have extensive experience across the various facets of the sport and we know they’re going to work incredibly hard to give us the best shot at success.”
The team, based in Wellsford north of Auckland, also signed 19 year old Andre Heimgartner from Auckland as their driver for the 2015 season in a PRA Ford Falcon, making him one of the youngest ever drivers to tackle the task of being a lead driver in Australasia’s top tier racing category.
Heimgartner echoed Lentino’s sentiments but adds: “I just can’t wait to start racing! The team at PRA are amazing to work with and I’m sure I’ll soak up a lot of information from them which will be a huge help for us.”
The reception from both PRA and the Australian fans towards Super Black Racing has been overwhelmingly positive added Lentino.
“We have been blown away from the amount of support we’ve received from people all around the world, including our Australian fans. They have responded to us so favourably and we’re stoked about that. Although we are convinced that the friendly New Zealand-Australia banter will be greater than ever,” laughs Lentino.
Tim Edwards, CEO for PRA, also says they’re looking forward to the ongoing relationship with Super Black Racing after a promising start at Bathurst.
“PRA is honoured to have Super Black Racing joining us in 2015. It’s going to be exciting for fans to have a New Zealand team to cheer for and I’m sure they’ll make New Zealanders proud,” says Edwards.
For more information, visit www.superblack.co.nz or follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/SuperBlackRacingTeam) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/SuperBlackNZ).
