Mackay youngster Morgan Haber will kick-off his second season in V8 Supercars’ Dunlop Series at Adelaide’s popular Clipsal 500 festival this weekend.
The 20-year-old returns to reigning champion squad MW Motorsport, which will again field three Falcons built by factory team Ford Performance Racing.
The 2014 season is set to be a busy one for Haber with the rising star competing in both Australia’s Dunlop Series and New Zealand’s V8 SuperTourers Championship.
Haber has already competed twice in the SuperTourers, ensuring he will be ‘race ready’ for Adelaide.
“It’s good to be going into a second year with the same team in MW Motorsport,” said Haber.
“I’ve already had two races in the SuperTourers this year and it’s interesting jumping from one car to another as they are quite different.
“This year the main focus for us in the Dunlop Series is to do a better job of qualifying.
“We know we have to potential to run well in the races but it’s very hard to get out of the pack if you start back there.
“If we can qualify better then we should be aiming at getting top 10 results as a minimum goal.
“It’s a tough field because there are a lot of very experienced drivers in good quality cars, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
The Adelaide event will debut a new format for the Dunlop Series whereby the two races will get their own qualifying sessions.
The change, as well as the move to two longer races at all seven events, are positives, according to Haber.
“I think the format changes are good for the series,” he said.
“If you have a bad run in your first qualifying session you can make amends in the second, whereas before one session could really hurt your weekend.
“The longer races are a positive too. There were some races last year where we didn’t get many laps at all (due to incidents causing Safety Car periods), which isn’t good for the drivers, teams or fans watching on TV.”
Team owner Matthew White believes that Haber’s racing commitments on both sides of the Tasman will complement each other this year.
“Morgan showed some good signs of speed last year and is a promising driver for the future,” he said.
“Morgan doesn’t yet have the racing experience of most of his rivals, which is why doing the New Zealand series will be a real help as he develops his race craft.
“With that in mind I think that the Miraflores Estate Ford can be in the top 10 this year.”
MWM will field three Falcons at the Clipsal 500, with Haber joined by fellow youngsters Andre Heimgartner and Ryan Simpson.
Having won five of the seven rounds in 2013, the team has been further bolstered this year by a new engine supply deal with KRE.
The Queensland-based firm has powered Jamie Whincup and Triple Eight to victory in the last three consecutive V8 Supercars Championships.
The Dunlop Series will contest a pair of 27 lap races across Friday (from 1815) and Saturday (from 1745) at the Clipsal 500, which again promises to draw in excess of 250,000 spectators to the Adelaide Parklands over its four days.
