PENRITE RACING TO RUN NEW FREIGHTLINER CASCADIA IN 2022
The Braeside team has taken delivery of a new Freightliner Cascadia prime mover supplied by Whitehorse Truck Centre
Penrite Racing’s Freightliner Cascadia
Photo: Whitehorse Truck Centre
The Freightliner badge will be in the Repco Supercars Championship for the next two years, thanks to a new deal struck between Penrite Racing, which transitions to full Grove Group ownership this year, and Melbourne-based Whitehorse Truck Centre.
We’d seen plenty of evidence of the new deal in recent weeks, with Penrite Racing’s 2022 Ford Mustang entries displaying Whitehorse Truck Centre branding, as well as a white Freightliner Cascadia appearing in the background of the team’s 2022 launch video at Luna Park.
However, the actual truck was still a mystery until Tuesday, when a stickered up Freightliner Cascadia towed the Penrite Racing Ford Mustangs to and from the official Supercars Winton test day.
Penrite Racing’s new truck outside Winton Motor Raceway last Tuesday
Whitehorse Truck Centre announced the partnership on Facebook earlier this afternoon, confirming that the truck is a Freightliner Cascadia 126 model with a Detroit DD16 engine and DT12 transmission underneath its aerodynamic bodywork.
They also highlighted the safety features of Penrite Racing’s new toy including Active Brake Assist (ABA), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), lane departure warnings and blind spot warnings.
Launched to the Australian market in 2019, this will be the first Freightliner Cascadia to join the Repco Supercars Championship roadshow. However, it’s not the first Cascadia model in the wider paddock, with Triple Eight Race Engineering taking delivery of Freightliner’s new flagship prime mover to pull its Super2 Series transporter last year.
The new truck deal marks the end of the Braeside outfit’s long partnership with Mack Trucks that spanned an impressive 12 seasons.
However, the Grove Racing and Whitehorse Truck Centre connection has some history, too. The Dandenong South-based dealership delivered two brand-new Mercedes-Benz Actros 2658 prime movers to Grove Group in October 2020, which it uses for both its GT racing program and its building sales and hire businesses.
The new Freightliner Cascadia will embark on its first interstate trip next week. It will tow the Penrite Racing gear across the border to Sydney Motorsport Park for the season-opening Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight next weekend.