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Percat was one of the biggest signings of the enduro driver silly season, emerging as one of the top draft picks after ending his full-time career at the end of last year. He was quickly snapped up by Triple Eight to partner Broc Feeney in place of Jamie Whincup, who elected to step back from driving altogether. At the pre-enduro test in Ipswich last week Percat got his first proper taste of working with the team that has set the benchmark for performance across the majority of his career. And the experience didn’t disappoint. Most relieving, according to Percat himself, was his compatibility on driving style with Feeney, something he admitted was weighing on his mind heading into the Ipswich test. “The driving side was really good,” he told Speedcafe. “The beauty of driving with Broc is that I slot straight in, no seat insert, nothing. “But there was a question in my head of driving styles… and it’s a lot closer than I thought it would be, which is good. “Every time I jumped in it we had the same feedback and similar techniques in the car. That was positive.” Another interesting observation from Percat was the precision of the run plan across the crucial single-day test, just one of two allowed under the Supercars regulations. “Working with the team in anger, not just watching on, it was really cool to see how they go about the day,” he said. “Nothing was too hard. It was like, ‘how many laps you need? You just tell us when you’re comfortable’ and they work around that during the day. “And I think that’s the most [set-up] changes I’ve seen at a test day in my whole career and there was never any panic or stress. It ran to the minute. “I knew when I got out of the car and I looked at the run sheet what time I’d be getting back in. “Scotty Pye told me that in the morning. He said, ‘if you need to know when you’re getting in the car, just look at the run plan because it will generally be within a minute of that, even in the afternoon’. “That’s the procedural side you get with the front running teams. It was quite impressive to see.” The test day wasn’t just Percat’s first significant assessment of Triple Eight as a team, but also his first taste of life as a co-driver. “I’m not the main character anymore,” he said. “I’ve had my time, I had a long career as a main driver. “It was interesting the way you drive the car. You’re still trying to achieve a good lap time, but you’re not on the ragged edge of locking a tyre or spearing off. I never once saw a lock light. “You’re just doing the job and you’re already in race mode. I’m thinking about how I’m going to drive it at Tailem Bend during the stint, and then at Bathurst during the stint. I’m not worried about the peak lap time. “It is a lot different. And a lot calmer. But then again, that’s probably a product of the environment you’re in.”