Red Bull Racing begins testing the first non-V8 Supercar

Triple Eight Racing leads the charge into the next step of Car Of The Future (COTF) by giving its twin turbocharged V6 its first run on the track.

With the Gen2 COTF rules coming into effect next year, teams will now have the chance of running a smaller engine with forced induction.

While most teams plan to keep running the old, pushrod V8 until other options appear, top dog of Triple Eight Racing, Roland Dane has made it very clear his team will be moving away from V8 power.

Red Bull Holden Racing Team (RBHRT) recently received shipment of their next generation engine from GM Racing in Pontiac, Michigan. 

The engine is a twin-turbocharged V6 unit similar to the one used in Cadillac's GT3 racers.

Fitted to the Sandman panel van that was built a few years back, Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup and Steven Richards piloted the car throughout the test day which was undertaken on Wednesday at the Norwell Motorplex (owned by Paul Morris), near the Gold Coast.

Man, if only panel van body types were allowed to race in the Supercar series.

It was a private session, so no one outside RBHRT was allowed into the venue.

According to Roland Dane, the shakedown was a success and the program is already showing plenty of promise. 

"We are very happy with the initial running, GM Racing has given us a great base to work from," Dane said.

"The testing has been about getting kilometres on the engine and understanding what it needs at this point to prepare it for racing in Supercars."

The team will still run V8 engines for the 2018 championship, however a wild card entry with the V6 will be entered at selected rounds before rolling the engine out for the full 2019 season.

Are you excited by this news? Or do want the Supercar series to be strictly for V8s only? Let us know in the comments below.