Cameron Hill’s Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro will feature a new ‘All Black’ livery in spirit of New Zealand’s return to the Repco Supercars Championship calendar.
The new livery coincides with Supaglass Industries taking on the naming rights of Hill’s Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the category’s maiden trip to Taupo International Motorsport Park on April 19-21.
It will be the first time Supercars have raced in New Zealand since 2022, and at an all-new venue in Taupo, providing a unique challenge this season.
Hill’s Camaro will adorn an ‘All Black’ themed livery, highlighting not only Supaglass Industries, but also paying homage to the New Zealand roots of the Stone family.
As Taupo is a new venue on the calendar, Hill has prepared by completing time on a simulator as time on track prior to qualifying on Saturday morning is restricted to a sole 90 minute practice session on Friday.
Two 200km races amounting to 60 laps each using Dunlop’s soft compound tyre, which will be an important factor if the prediction of high degradation comes to fruition.
Strong pace at Albert Park last time out has Hill quietly confident of this continuing at Taupo. Learning a new layout is not a worry for Hill after this was demonstrated at Symmons Plains last season when he scored a maiden top 10 Supercars qualifying and race result on his first visit to the Tasmanian circuit.
The ITM Taupo 400 is the fourth event on the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship calendar scheduled for April 19-21.
QUOTES
Cameron Hill
#4 Supaglass Racing, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
“It’s my second time racing in New Zealand and I’m really looking forward to it,” said Hill.
“It’s cool to go somewhere different and the fans in New Zealand are pretty passionate as demonstrated by it being sold out.
“It’s really cool to have Supaglass as my naming rights sponsor for New Zealand. Supaglass has been growing alongside my career, as its presence continues to get bigger and bigger in motorsport. To have the Supaglass name on the side of a Supercar will be awesome and there is a pretty large contingent coming across to watch.
“Hopefully they enjoy the Supaglass Camaro going around Taupo.
“There is a nice Kiwi link there through the Stone family and I’m racing a very black car in New Zealand. So if we can score a few All Blacks fans while we’re over there, then we’ll certainly take it.
“I’ve spent a fair bit of time on the simulator learning Taupo. I feel like I know the layout of the track quite well and what gears I’ll be using in the corners, but until you experience the track surface, the camber of the road you won’t know for sure. It’s got a lot of character by the looks of it. It’ll be who gets up to speed the quickest that will have the advantage.
“The nature of the game in Supercars is the importance of qualifying. The field is tighter than ever at every circuit and I’ve seen that when I go well I have good races where I can run comfortably at the front. When you’re a bit further back the elbows need to be out and everyone seems to be in a rush.
“Another thing is we believe the tyre deg might be quite big at Taupo. Normally when there is tyre deg it makes the racing a bit better with the under and overcut strategies coming more into play. I think it will be pretty fun.
“We look at circuits like the Gold Coast and highlight the tightness of it, but it always ends up producing awesome racing, so this could be the case with Taupo.
“I’m feeling pretty confident about how I can manage my races better. I certainly learnt that skill during my rookie year and hopefully if I find myself in a good position I can capitalise on it.”
Schedule (Times AEST)
Friday, April 19
Practice 1 (90 minutes) 10:55am
Saturday, April 20
Qualifying 8:20am
Top 10 Shootout 10:00am
Race 7 (60 laps) 1:05pm
Sunday, April 21
Qualifying 8:45am
Top 10 Shootout 10:25am
Race 8 (60 laps) 1:05pm
