The Kiwi Flyer - GRM pick for stardom

Anyone who has watched the Supercars will know how spectacular they are. You can see from these photos that McLaughlan had a huge dislike to actually driving with four wheels on the ground. And by the way he is laughing in this conversation with the boss man Gary Rogers it is obvious that the elder Rogers has no problem with the way he is driving. Now driving in Indycar as part of Roger Penske’s team I am sure Garry sits back watching TV saying, “That’s my boy” This fresh faced Scott McLaughlan was one Garry picked for stardom and he proved his worth by winning his first Supercars race in 2013 driving one of the team’s Holden Monaros. In 2014 he re-signed with the Melbourne based team when they made the switch to the Volvo brand aligning with Volvo Polestar Racing. It did not take long for the team to find success as McLaughlin made it to the podium on the car’s debut at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. He would go on to pick up four wins on the way to fifth place in the Championship. He left the team in 2017 for DJR Team Penske

Carrying the Rogers name meant only one thing for Garry’s son Barry. He was destined to be involved with both automobiles and motorsport. As his father faded from being the up-front face of GRM Barry took the helm of the team. In 2019 the decision to leave Supercars was forced upon him when his principal sponsor did not like how the Supercar rules regarding spec parts was being implimented. With little time to secure another primary sponsor and Supercars not wanting to extend their deadline for entries GRM had no option but to pull the plug and decided to go over to the Australian Racing Group and run with the TCR series

In late 2020 Barry decided to have more influence over his destiny when he become a major shareholder in the Australian Racing Group. The Group runs a growing range of motorsport categories and events and with GRM being involved in two of them it made sense to be more involved. Barry’s company, Motorsport Events Pty. Ltd

acquired a 47.5% stake of Australian Racing Group Holdings Pty which makes him the largest shareholder. As well as the TCR program which runs seven cars in four distinct teams GRM was chosen to fabricate components and assemble the S5000 single seater for the new ARG reincarnation of Formula 5000 running in the VHT S5000 Australian Drivers Championship. The chassis is built by Onroak-Ligier and is fitted with a 5.2 litre normally aspirated Ford Coyote V8 making around 560 hp. “Being in the motorsport business, we are always actively looking for work, preferably in the motorsport business,” GRM director Barry Rogers said. “We saw the opportunity with S5000 to utilise the workforce that normally have been building Supercars chassis and have them produce a lot of the components that go into each car. In the mid 70s, I remember going to Calder Park with Dad and I remember the 5000s roar back then. Car racing is all about the senses, noise and flames and there’ll be no better car than a S5000 to satisfy all of those senses.” In a fitting manner the series announced on 21 April that following a consultation with key stakeholders, it was decided that effective immediately the S5000 race cars will be designated as a ‘Rogers AF01/V8’. It was indeed a nice tribute to the team who had put so much into the development of the car and series. Also running under the ARG sanction is the fan favorite Touring Car masters series, the national Trans Am series, the Australian V8 Touring Cars Series and the recently announced joint venture with the SRO Motorsports Group, the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS. ARG also run a couple of great events at Bathurst, the 6-Hour event in April and Bathurst. The Rogers AF01/V8

More information on ARG its categories and events can be found on their website at www. australianracinggroup.com

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Age: 21 Born: Ferntree Gully 18 Started karting wiinning various titles in 2014 Career: 3rd Australian Formula Ford Australian GT Trophy Champion 2018 Australian KZ2 Kart Champion 3rd Australian TCR 2019 TCR Class: Peugeot 308 Team Valvoline Racing

AARON CAMERON 18

JASON BARGWANNA 17

17 Age: 49 Born: Sydney Started racing in the late ‘80s in Formula Vee. Career: 2nd Australian Formula Ford 2nd Australian Formula Holden 2000 Bathurst 1000 winner 2013 NZ V8 TLX Champion TCR Class: Peugeot 308 Burson Auto Parts Racing

Age: 36 Born: Melbourne Started racing at club level, moved to Lotus series in 2004 Career: 2nd Lotus Elise series 2004 3rd Australian FF 2003 2007 3rd Porsche Carrera Cup 2008 2nd Fujitsu V8 Supercar 2009/10 TCR Class: Renault Megane R.S. LMCT+ Racing

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34 Age: 37 Born: Melbourne Started racing in one-make Lotus Elise series

Career: 3rd Australian Formula Ford Australian V8 Utes 3rd Porsche Carrera Cup 2nd Fujitsu V8 Supercars Auastralian v8 Supercars TCR Class: Renault Megane LMCT+ Racing

DYLAN O’KEEFFE 33

DYLAN O’KEEFFE 33

Age: 23

Born: Melbourne Started racing karts before heading to the Porsche 944 Challenge in 2014 Career: 2nd Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge in 2015 3rd Porsche Carrera Cup 2018

TCR Class: Renault Megane R.S. Lowbake Racing

BEN BARGWANNA 71

71 Age: 20 Born: Gippsland Started racing 2016 in Hydundai Excels. Career: Australian Formula Ford 2nd Bathurst 6 Hour Australian TCR Series TCR Class: Peugeot 308 Burson Auto Parts Racing