Blanchard Racing Team has been hit with one of the heftiest financial penalties in recent Supercars memory after stewards found the squad had run a damaged car without declaring it, an investigation that came to a head during the Tyrepower Tasmania Super440 at Symmons Plains.
The Tasmanian stewards fined BRT $50,000 — half of it, $25,000, suspended until 31 December 2026 provided the team commits no similar breach in that window — and stripped 44 points from both the team's championship tally and driver Aaron Cameron.
At the heart of the case was Cameron's No. 3 Mustang and an incident from the earlier New Zealand round at Taupo. According to the stewards, the car was submitted to start the second Taupo race with damage to its ROPS — the rollover protection structure, a core safety component — that had not been disclosed to officials. The damage stemmed from a clash involving Cameron, Kai Allen and Jobe Stewart in the opening stages of Race 8.
The matter only surfaced on the Friday of the Tasmania weekend, prompting the investigation that produced the verdict. It was a costly footnote to a New Zealand double-header that had already left several teams counting the bill for crash damage.
In mitigating the penalty, stewards accepted there had been no intent to deceive, attributing the non-disclosure to "a lack of diligence rather than a deliberate concealment." That distinction spared BRT an even harsher sanction and underpinned the decision to suspend half of the fine.
The sporting cost is still significant. The 44-point deduction drops Cameron from 20th to 22nd in the drivers' standings, while BRT slides from sixth to seventh in the teams' championship, slipping behind Matt Stone Racing. For a tightly run operation that has steadily built its credibility in the Repco Supercars Championship, the financial hit and the points loss represent a sobering setback.
The ruling lands at a charged moment for Cameron, who had already been involved in on-track friction during a fraught run of rounds. But the broader message from officials was about process rather than personalities: safety-critical components such as the rollover structure must be declared to technical staff every time a car rolls out, damaged or not. In a championship where parity and compliance are policed closely, BRT's omission proved an expensive lesson — and a reminder that what happens in scrutineering can shape the title race as much as anything on the circuit.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/blanchard-racing-team-50000-fine-points-penalty-2026-tasmania). Visit for full coverage.*
