Continuing their search for young talent, Erebus Academy has hosted their latest assemblage of ‘Who’s Next’ drivers at Winton Motor Raceway.

New Zealand driver’s William Exton and Matthew McCutcheon were joined by local driver’s Jude Bargwanna and Blake Purdie as they spent the past two days understanding the intricacies of a Supercar.

Erebus Motorsport drivers Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki were in attendance yesterday, with each driver being taken for a guided lap with Kostecki prior to their opening stints this morning.

Today saw the four drivers working with Kostecki’s race engineer George Commins, who provided each driver with continuous engineering support throughout sessions.

The four drivers were also lucky enough to be next door to four-time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy and his wildcard team-mate Richie Stanaway, who conducted their second test with Erebus yesterday ahead of October’s race.

Exton, McCutcheon, Bargwanna and Purdie each gained important insight into the world of Supercars and are each determined to continue their pursuit of a motorsport career.

Barry Ryan said: “Matthew, William, Blake and Jude did a fantastic job for their first experiences in a Supercar, it is very rewarding providing these talented young men the opportunity to drive one of our cars and see them go from learning off in-car vision and data to putting it into real world practice. Motorsport and Supercars will be the winner not if, but when any of these drivers get to be full time main game drivers in the future. They all have talent to burn and great individual personalities to go with it, we really look forward to supporting them all on their journeys to becoming professional racing drivers in the future.”

William Exton said: “It was amazing, it was the best motorsport opportunity I’ve ever had. It’s been a very helpful experience for me as I’m starting to move from karting into the car scene in New Zealand and this has fast tracked me a whole bunch of steps. Getting to do the lap with Brodie first was really helpful, I learnt where all the brake markers are, what curbs to hit and the race lines. It’s a big jump from karting but it was awesome.”

Blake Purdie added: “It was really exciting and a really good opportunity to get my hands on something different to what I’m used to. I found the best thing about it was actually pulling gears with the gear stick, that was the most enjoyable part of it for me. It’s good to come out and do days like these because it gets my name out there and I think driving a Supercar is probably the best thing to drive in Australia. It was great to get to drive with Erebus too because they have a lot of connections in the sport.”

Matthew McCutcheon said: “It was an awesome experience to get to work with Erebus, the cars are so quick and I learned so much. These kinds of experiences are so important for my career, it’s not everyday that you see people testing a Supercar so for Erebus to give this opportunity is massive. My goal is to become a Supercar champion and Erebus has helped me take that next step forward towards that goal.”

Jude Bargwanna concluded: “The experience was really cool and jumping into something with a lot of grip compared to what I’m used to in Formula Ford was a surprise. It’s a credit to the Erebus Motorsport team for organising such a good experience and creating a cool opportunity for us. I think it’s a really important experience for my career to see how I fare up against more experienced drivers like Brown and Kostecki. To work with such an experienced team and engineers, it’s really critical for my career.”