French Supercar co driver, Alex Premat, has spoken out about his decision to walk away from the championship winning Triple Eight Engineering team to drive for DJR Team Penske in 2017.
After just one season partnering Shane van Gisbergen at the Sandown 500, the Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast, the two drivers taking the coveted Enduro Cup together, Premat made a tough decision to give up the glory to move back to Scotty McLaughlin’s side.
Premat and McLaughlin had spent two seasons together at Garry Rogers Motorsport, so when Scott made the move to DJR, Premat thought long and hard and finally decided to join him for the upcoming 2017 Enduro Cup.
“Of course it was a tough decision, to go from Triple Eight to DJR Team Penske,” the Frenchman told Motorsport.com. “I had two great options. With the Red Bull team and Shane, we had a great year last year, with the team dynamic and all that. But here, having Scott, having [engineering guru] Ludo [Lacroix] on board, it’s great. I’m living in the United States, so that link with Penske is good as well. But honestly, to make that call was a tough, tough, tough call. I was thinking about it for a week!”
“I definitely believe that Team Penske is going to do everything to bring DJR Team Penske to the top. It’s not going to be easy, because the Triple Eight guys are very tough, and they’re fast at every track. But yeah, that’s the target – to show Supercars that another team can be the best guys in the field.”
