ONE of the many fascinating narratives of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship will be Riccardo Corte’s impact on Grove Racing.
Corte has joined the Penrite-backed squad from Ferrari’s Formula 1 program, where he earlier this year was performance engineer for Lewis Hamilton (having previously worked directly with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc).
He will slot in as Kai Allen’s race engineer next season, as incumbent Alistair McVean is promoted to head of performance.
It begs the question: why would a motorsport-loving Italian trade Ferrari F1 for a category he only discovered a matter of months ago?
“It was a dream that I achieved to work in Ferrari. I was looking for a different life adventure and I wanted to live in a bigger city as well,” Corte, 33, explained to V8 Sleuth.
“Then I was speaking with an Australian friend working in the former company, he told me about Supercars. I looked at some video and some races and it looked pretty cool.
“I always had a lot of fun with Australian people I met around the world and a lot of respect for their culture, so it looked quite interesting.
“Then I got this contact with Brenton (Grove) and they were super friendly… Melbourne looked like a good place to be, so I came here.”
Grove previously revealed to V8 Sleuth that long-time friend Johannes Hatz, who is Charles Leclerc’s performance engineer, had been pivotal in connecting the two parties.
Corte arrived in Australia just in time for the Adelaide Grand Final, where Allen contended for the championship and teammate Matt Payne won the last race of the season.
“It’s very interesting, it looks like a lot of fun,” Corte said of his first impression of Supercars.
“It’s like a mini-F1, everything is similar but made simpler, which simple sometimes is also more enjoyable it looks like.
“Everything is relaxed, the people is super, the team spirit is really great. I think it can be a lot of fun.
“Also the competition is very tight, it is all based on car set-up, there is no car development. Maybe from the factory side it is less challenging but on the track it makes it more exciting.”
The #26 Penrite Mustang of Kai Allen. Pic: Supplied/Mark Horsburgh
The Groves are already stacked with accomplished engineers from McVean to Grant McPherson and young gun Jack Bell, but Corte hopes to bring an injection of fresh ideas.
“I hope that maybe Formula 1 expertise will bring a bit more expertise on data acquisition on the car, which might translate to being useful for some set-up choices,” he said.
“So let’s see; there will be work to do over the summer to learn and to try to see which of these fresh ideas can be useful for the series.”
As for teaming up with 20-year-old Allen?
“I was impressed how keen he is, how focused he is, and how good he was delivering,” said Corte.
“To be as a rookie in the finals and fighting with the big names, I’m excited to be working with him and to see what we can achieve together for sure.”