2024 Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight Official Program
At Repco, we sure know what gets us goin’.
That love of the drive. We get cars.
That’s why we’re best placed to help you with whatever gets you goin’.
And if you don’t get cars, we get that too. No judgement here.
So, whatever drives you…
The 2024 Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight Official Program is published by AN1 Media Pty. Ltd for Supercars
PUBLISHER: Aaron Noonan, AN1 Media
EDITOR: Will Dale
DESIGN: Craig Fryers (CDF Design)
ADVERTISING: Aaron Noonan
PHOTOS: AN1 Images archive, Mark Horsburgh / Supercars, Nathan Wong / Speed Shots Photography, Ross Gibb, Matthew Paul Photography, Toyota, Tayler Burke, Tickford Racing, Blanchard Racing Team.
Thanks to event staff, teams and support categories for assisting in providing content for the 2024 Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight Official Program.
Shane Howard Chief Executive Officer, Supercars
Welcome from Supercars
As CEO of Supercars, it is my pleasure to welcome you to one of the most exciting events on the calendar, our weekend under lights at the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight. We are thrilled to bring back the Repco Supercars Championship to Sydney Motorsport Park, showcasing this world class circuit to a global audience.
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the NSW Government, through Destination NSW, for their unwavering support in bringing this event to life once again in 2024. Their commitment to motorsport in our state is commendable, and we are honoured to have their invaluable partnership.
I also want to express my thanks to our series partners and event naming rights partner, Panasonic Air Conditioning. We are proud to have you as key partners, and we are excited to have so many of you here with us to witness the thrilling racing action unfold this weekend.
Wayne Bryant
Chief Executive Officer Automotive Division, GPC Asia Pacific
Welcome from Repco
Welcome to Panasonic Air Conditioning
Sydney SuperNight – an event that has long been a favourite for Repco Supercars fans in New South Wales.
As the only Supercars round in metropolitan Sydney, as well as the only night race of the year, this highly anticipated event is one that we at Repco believe, Gets you Goin’.
Australia’s premier racing category and Sydney Motorsport Park have a long history together, one that goes back to when the circuit was first built in 1990, and in that time, there has been no shortage of memorable moments.
And it’s because of these many exciting memories throughout the past three decades that a huge crowd attends every year.
To our fans, thank you for being the lifeblood of this sport. Your unwavering support and enthusiasm inspire us to keep pushing the boundaries and reaching new heights. We hope you have a fantastic weekend of celebrations both on and off the track.
From meeting the drivers at autograph sessions, to the electricity that a night race brings, to one of the best support category lineups of the year, there will be something for everyone here this weekend.
We extend our heartfelt appreciation to our series naming rights partner, Repco, as well as our valued partners, broadcasters, race teams, drivers, volunteers, officials, and fans for their dedicated support to Supercars. Without you, our success would not be possible.
Thank you for being part of the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight, and we hope you have a memorable and enjoyable experience.
And why wouldn’t it?
Night racing, a fan-friendly 11-corner circuit, fireworks, and lots of action on and off the track makes this the perfect place to spend your weekend.
If the impressive showing in North Queensland wasn’t enough to get your mind racin’, I have no doubt that the Repco Supercars machinery roaring around Sydney will - especially as the season begins its second half.
The Red Bulls continue to lead the title, but they had a small stumble in Townsville. Are the Ford teams going to continue the fightback they showed in Townsville? Get your popcorn ready!
From all the crew at Repco, enjoy the racin’, wherever you may be watchin’.
Paul Reid
Managing Director, Panasonic Australia
Welcome from Panasonic
Panasonic is excited to be the naming rights sponsor for the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight.
Our partnership with this spectacular Supercars event marks another milestone in the growing relationship between Supercars and Panasonic. Panasonic became the Official Air Conditioning Partner of Supercars in 2023, and the partnership has already brought visibility to Panasonic through the Panasonic Starting Grid presentations on live television broadcasts for each Repco Supercars Championship race.
Panasonic globally has a history of over 100 years, and our Air Conditioning solutions have been a trusted and familiar brand in Australian homes for decades. We are proud to be associated with Supercars, a muchloved Australian motorsport that similarly has a strong history and a longstanding and passionate following.
Much like Supercars, Panasonic is driven by innovation and high-performance. Our
Welcome from the New South Wales Government
Welcome to Western Sydney for the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight, supported proudly by the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.
The lights are on, night racing is back and there is no better place than Sydney Motorsport Park to watch the stars of Supercars race for crucial points as they turn into the final straight of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship.
The NSW Government’s investment in permanent lighting at this venue has created a unique experience for motorsport fans, offering the thrill of night-time racing at one of the showpiece events of the Supercars season.
Western Sydney is a hub for major events and unique experiences, with Sydney SuperNight contributing to its vibrant
Air Conditioners feature innovations such as Nanoe-X Air purification and built-in WiFi, and offer high efficiency and low power consumption, delivering energy bill savings.
On behalf of the entire Panasonic team, we welcome you to Sydney Motorsport Park, Eastern Creek for the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight. It is sure to be a fantastic race weekend full of exciting track action.
We’re also incredibly proud to be able to support Hands Across the Water as our chosen official charity for the event. It provides an opportunity for them to raise awareness and funds to support life-changing initiatives for children in need. Panasonic has a long-standing relationship with Hands and we invite Supercars attendees to give generously to this special cause when they see the Hands fundraising team over the weekend.
I hope you all enjoy the stunning action of this event!
sporting and cultural events calendar. It also attracts thousands of fans, teams and officials to Western Sydney, who stay in our hotels, visit our attractions and spend locally, supporting hundreds of jobs and turbocharging one of the nation’s fastest growing visitor economies.
With a diverse arts scene, picturesque parklands and a trove of visitor experiences, including the thrills of Sydney’s largest
water park, motorsport megaplexes, enchanting zoos and numerous fine dining precincts, Western Sydney is fast developing a reputation as one of the nation’s mustvisit destinations.
Enjoy tonight’s high-octane action and take some time off the track to explore the range of visitor experiences throughout Western Sydney waiting to be discovered at Sydney.com.
Friday 19 July
Saturday 20 July
Sunday 21 July
1
BRODIE KOSTECKI
Erebus Motorsport
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
AGE 26
FROM Perth, WA
LIVES Gold Coast, QLD FACEBOOK @brodiekostecki57
INSTAGRAM @brodiekostecki
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2019 ROUNDS 45
106
6
24
11 SYDNEY STATS
2021
6
15
1
3
1
7
FINISH 3rd
1
QUAL 2nd
POS 24th
Brodie Kostecki capped his rise to the top of the Repco Supercars Championship by becoming the 26th driver to win the esteemed title. While the 2023 season was just his third full-time tilt at the ‘main game’, his journey is as far away as you can get from an overnight success story.
After racing karts in Australia, Kostecki and his family moved to America where he cut his teeth in the uncompromising world of Late Model stock car racing on short ovals, winning at the famous Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina at age 15 against future NASCAR stars Ty Dillon and Bubba Wallace. Kostecki went on to compete in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and across 14 races he secured two poles, one track record and one top five finish.
He returned home and in 2017 debuted in the Dunlop Super2 Series in an older generation FG Falcon run by Matt Stone Racing. Kostecki joined cousins Kurt and Jake for 2018 in a three-car Kostecki Brothers Racing effort, breaking through for his first Super2 Series race and round wins at Sandown en route to fifth in the final standings.
After a strong start to 2019, Kostecki sat out the bulk of the season as KBR focused on its Enduro Cup wildcard entry, but the closure of the family team left his future uncertain beyond an Enduro Cup co-drive with Erebus.
Kostecki was given a chance by Eggleston Motorsport, and he drove for its Super2 squad while working in its workshop and staying with team owners Ben and Rachael Eggleston. A first-up win in Adelaide repaid their faith, but it was his Bathurst co-drive that turned heads; Kostecki raced door-to-door with several of Supercars’ biggest names without backing down and forced Jamie Whincup into making a race-ending mistake.
The effort landed him a ‘main game’ seat with Erebus for 2021, and he wasted no time dispelling any doubters by claiming his first podium finish in greasy, wet conditions at Sandown, while a swashbuckling final stint earnt him a trip to the Repco Bathurst 1000 podium with co-driver David Russell.
A career-first pole position and more podiums followed in 2022, but Erebus’ preparation for the arrival of Gen3 gave Kostecki his first shot at championship glory. In addition to a slew of wins and pole positions, it was the way Kostecki battled and fended off departing star Shane van Gisbergen that emphasised that he was truly a deserving champion.
However, he is just one round into his reign after sitting out the first two events of the 2024 season, with Todd Hazelwood driving in his stead prior to Kostecki’s return at Taupō. It’s been a challenging return so far, but Kostecki made his first trip to the podium as champion last time out at Hidden Valley.
RYAN WOOD
Mobil 1TM Truck Assist Racing Ford Mustang GT
AGE 20
FROM Wellington, NZ
LIVES Melbourne, VIC
FACEBOOK @ryanwoodracing INSTAGRAM @ryanwood40_
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2024
ROUNDS 6
RACES 14
BEST FINISH 4th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 2nd
SYDNEY STATS
DEBUT 2024
ROUNDS N/A
RACES N/A
BEST FINISH N/A
PODIUMS N/A
BEST QUAL N/A
2024 CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
RACES 14
BEST FINISH 4th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 2nd
CHAMP POS 17th
Ryan Wood completed a rapid rise to the Repco Supercars Championship grid in 2024 by taking over the marquee #2 entry at Walkinshaw Andretti United.
The 20-year-old New Zealander was one of the standout stars of last year’s Dunlop Super2 Series despite it being his first season in a Supercar.
Driving for WAU, which returned to the Supercars’ second tier for the first time in over a decade, Wood took a season-high five race wins and four pole positions. The efforts allowed him to claim the Super2 Pole Award in his first – and, as it proved, only – campaign.
However, it was his performance in a mid-year test day at Winton aboard one of WAU’s Gen3 Ford Mustangs that sealed his promotion to the team’s ‘main game’ squad for 2024.
The deal validated a bold decision made at the end of 2022, when Wood had two clear options for his career going forward.
At that point, he’d just completed an impressive maiden season of racing in Australia in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge driving for Porsche New Zealand and Earl Bamber Motorsport.
Wood claimed four out of six round wins and a sweep of all six pole positions on the way to a narrow second-placing behind Thomas Sargent in the Pro Class standings.
The result guaranteed graduation to Porsche Carrera Cup Australia for 2023 via the Team Porsche New Zealand scholarship.
On the other hand, he was also presented with the opportunity to do Super2 with WAU off the back of starring in a mid-November Evaluation Day test aboard one of the team’s Gen2 Holden Commodores ZBs.
History shows that Wood knocked back the Porsche opportunity and chose to move directly onto the Supercars ladder with WAU in order to pursue a career in the ‘main game’, a gamble that paid dividends in less than 12 months.
A multiple karting champion in his homeland, Wood earnt the Team Porsche NZ scholarship after impressing in his first two seasons of car racing.
Graduating from karting into the country’s Toyota 86 racing series for 2020, Wood finished 10th in his first campaign, then came agonisingly close to winning the title in his second.
He won six out of 15 races and claimed six pole positions, but a puncture in the final race of the season led him to finish third in the 2021 standings.
He then raced a Porsche 991 Cup Car in the 2021/22 South Island Endurance Series, taking victory in the series without losing a single race.
THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN’T HANDLE. FROM ENGINES TO DESIGN, PAINT, MACHINING AND FABRICATION.
AARON LOVE
CoolDrive Racing
Ford Mustang GT
AGE 22
FROM Perth, WA
LIVES Melbourne, VIC
FACEBOOK @AaronLove
INSTAGRAM @aaronlove78
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2023
ROUNDS 8
RACES 16
BEST FINISH 12th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 14th
SYDNEY STATS
DEBUT 2024
ROUNDS N/A
RACES N/A
BEST FINISH N/A
PODIUMS N/A
BEST QUAL N/A
2024 CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
RACES 14
BEST FINISH 12th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 14th
CHAMP POS 23rd
Aaron Love is one of two Dunlop Super2 Series racers that has graduated to the Repco Supercars championship in 2024.
The son of Western Australian racer Ian and the younger sibling of fellow young gun Jordan, Love started karting at six years old and made his circuit racing debut six years later in Wanneroo’s Formula 1000 class.
Love then moved into Formula 4 in 2017 and claimed third place in the 2018 championship with Team BRM before following his brother onto the Porsche Motorsport ladder.
He joined Sonic Motor Racing Services for the 2019 Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge season, where he won six races but narrowly missed out on the title.
He became the youngest driver in Carrera Cup history when, at age 17, he made his debut at the 2019 season-ending Gold Coast round as a dress rehearsal for what was supposed to be a full-season tilt in 2020.
However, the following two seasons were both impacted by the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Love claimed his maiden top-three race finish in the opening round of 2020 at Adelaide only for the season to suddenly end midway through the Albert Park round, while he finished fifth overall in the five-round 2021 season.
Love spent the 2022 season primarily in Europe to race in France’s Carrera Cup series. Driving for longtime Porsche squad Alméras Frères, he finished fifth in the final standings with a fourth-place finish his best race result of the season, coming at former French Grand Prix venue Magny-Cours.
The Alméras squad also fielded him in a pair of cameo appearances in Porsche Supercup, racing on the Formula 1 support card at Paul Ricard and Silverstone.
Closer to home, he did just six of the eight Carrera Cup Australia rounds as he focused on his French campaign but still won the Enduro Cup and finished within a few points of nabbing the overall title after taking 12 wins in just 18 race starts.
Last year marked a full-time return to Australian shores for Love, whose season in Europe prompted him to focus his energies on trying to climb the Supercars ladder.
He linked up with Blanchard Racing Team, which branched into the Super2 Series for the first season that Gen2-era machinery was eligible. Love proved fast aboard BRT’s Petronas-backed Ford Mustang, and claimed his first race win in the category at Mount Panorama – a victory that was also the first in any category for BRT.
Love also made his ‘main game’ debut with BRT in a wildcard entry at last year’s endurance races aboard the same Gen3 Mustang he is steering in 2024.
4
CAMERON HILL
Matt Stone Racing
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
AGE 27
FROM Canberra, ACT
LIVES Canberra, ACT
FACEBOOK @cameronhill11
INSTAGRAM @cameron_hill4
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2022
ROUNDS 19
RACES 43
BEST FINISH 5th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 4th
SYDNEY STATS
DEBUT 2023
ROUNDS 1
RACES 2
BEST FINISH 17th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 8th
2024 CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
RACES 14
BEST FINISH 5th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 4th
CHAMP POS 16th
Cameron Hill embarked on his second Repco Supercars Championship season in 2024, remaining with Gold Coastbased outfit Matt Stone Racing.
Hailing from Canberra, Hill won a host of state and national titles in karting before graduating to Formula Ford in 2014, where he romped to the Australian title a year later.
He continued his strong form into the Toyota 86 Racing Series, winning more races than any other driver in the class across 2016 and 2017 while posting a pair of top-three championship finishes.
His success led to an opportunity in Carrera Cup. In 2018, Hill was one of four promising young drivers recruited to Porsche’s Michelin Junior program.
After finishing ninth in the standings in his rookie season, Hill claimed his maiden pole position and race wins at Hidden Valley in 2019 on his way to sixth in the title, and took his maiden round win at the second and final event of the category’s COVID-impacted 2020 season.
Hill was peerless on his way to the Carrera Cup title in 2021, finishing in the top three in 11 of the 13 races held – including a streak of six straight race wins.
His rise through Australian motorsport, from junior open-wheel racing to Carrera Cup, came in cars entered and prepared by his own family-run team. However, for his step up to Super2 in 2022, Hill landed a plum seat driving for reigning champions Triple Eight Race Engineering.
Hill impressed in his first season in a Supercar. Although his more experienced teammate Declan Fraser took out the title, Hill matched him six-all across the year’s qualifying sessions and stood on the podium twice.
A rough Sandown round, where he was spun early in the first race then boxed around in the mid-field shuffles during the second, plus a crash at Adelaide’s infamous Turn 8 left him fifth in the final points standings.
Hill also made his ‘main game’ debut in that year’s Repco Bathurst 1000 with PremiAir Racing, losing a potential top 10 finish with a late power steering problem.
He’d already tasted Mount Panorama success earlier in the year, winning the Bathurst 6 Hour production car race with Tom Sargeant in a BMW that started from the tail the grid, sealing the win with an electric late-race pass over Skyline on Supercars rival Tim Slade.
He had a steady rookie Supercars campaign last year with flashes of speed and has enjoyed a strong start to the 2024 season, qualifying for Top 10 Shootouts at Bathurst, Taupō and Hidden Valley, and posting a career-best race finish of fifth place in the opening race at the Mount Panorama round.
5
LOCHIE DALTON
Fiducian Racing
Ford Mustang GT
AGE 22
FROM Launceston, TAS
LIVES Sydney, NSW
FACEBOOK @LochieDaltonRacing
INSTAGRAM @lochiedalton
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2024
ROUNDS 0
RACES 0
BEST FINISH N/A
PODIUMS N/A
BEST QUAL N/A
SYDNEY STATS
DEBUT 2024
ROUNDS N/A
RACES N/A
BEST FINISH N/A
PODIUMS N/A
BEST QUAL N/A
2024 CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
RACES 0
BEST FINISH N/A
PODIUMS N/A
BEST QUAL N/A
CHAMP POS N/A
Lochie Dalton is the latest in a long line of Tasmanian talent to take part in the Repco Supercars Championship.
The 22-year-old Launceston product is a protégé of two-time Supercars Champion and NASCAR Cup Series race winner Marcos Ambrose, and makes his ‘main game’ debut at the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight aboard a wildcard entry from Tickford Racing, for whom he races in the Dunlop Series.
Dalton’s career began after watching his dad racing a go-kart in a meeting at the Launceston Kart Club. Lochie’s dad soon had a present for his seven-year-old son: a kart of his own. He competed in state racing for a few years, supported by his dad, and also made a few tentative appearances over on the mainland.
When AWC Constructions’ Andrew Walter and the Walter family looked to establish a Tassie karting team, they invited a 12-yearold Dalton to race in the national titles. He continued karting until age 16, headlined by an Australian Championship victory in the KA1 Class in 2018.
He graduated to cars in 2021 by joining the Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia 86 Series, impressing with a string of top-10 race finishes throughout the COVID-impacted season.
Dalton moved into the Trans Am Series in 2022 and quickly adapted to the V8-engined machines. He scored a string of wins and podiums and finished second in last year’s title to fellow Tickford Racing pilot, enduro co-driver James Moffat.
He made his first start on the Supercars ladder in the Dunlop Super2 Series in 2022, making his debut at the final round in Adelaide. Driving for Brad Jones Racing, Dalton impressed by posting top-10 qualifying and race performances on the Sunday.
That parlayed into a full-time Dunlop Series season with BJR in 2023, dovetailing his Trans Am commitments with races aboard the Albury team’s Holden Commodore ZB. Dalton finished 10th in the Super2 standings after a campaign highlighted by a breakthrough round podium with third overall at Wanneroo Raceway.
This year Dalton made the switch to Tickford Racing, forming part of a three-car Dunlop Series attack with Brad Vaughan and rookie Rylan Gray. He is also one of a host of drivers recruited to the team’s Tickford Autosports driver development academy.
His Supercars debut comes aboard the Ford Mustang that Cam Waters began the 2024 season in, while race-winning engineer Dilan Talibani will be in his corner for the weekend. Dalton is also more than familiar with Sydney Motorsport Park; his day job is with the Driving Solutions driver training organisation that is based at the western Sydney circuit.
CAM WATERS
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
AGE 29
FROM Mildura, VIC LIVEs Melbourne, VIC FACEBOOK @camwaters94
@cam_waters SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
2011
123
265
13
51
26 SYDNEY STATS
2016
11
26
Cam Waters is showing form at the right time in the Repco Supercars Championship after a tough start to 2024. Wins at Wanneroo and Townsville have moved him up the fourth in the standings as the endurance races loom, rebounding from a low of 22nd in points.
Waters began his racing career in go-karts, collecting multiple national and state titles before graduating to Formula Vee in 2009, then winning the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2011.
He also made headlines that year by taking out the Shannons Supercar Showdown TV series, earning a drive alongside Grant Denyer in the Bathurst 1000 where he became the youngest driver to compete in the famous race. Later in the year he made his Super2 Series debut in a Kelly Racing-run Commodore and continued with the team into 2012, competing under the Dreamtime Racing banner, and returned to Bathurst to share a car with 2012 Shannons Supercar Showdown series winner Jesse Dixon.
He spent the next few years learning his craft in Super2, firstly with Minda Motorsport in 2013 before moving to Ford Performance Racing in 2014, romping to the 2015 title with four round wins, four poles and 10 race wins. Waters filled in for an injured Chaz Mostert in late 2015 in the #6 Pepsi Max Crew Falcon before a full-time step up to the ‘main game’ in 2016. He claimed his first championship race win in 2017 alongside Richie Stanaway at the Sandown 500 on his way to eighth in the final standings, but he slumped to 16th during Tickford’s difficult 2018 campaign.
However, the departure of Mostert for 2020 paved the way for a coming-of-age campaign for Waters as Tickford team leader. He scored his first single-driver race win at The Bend and then turned on a sublime performance at Bathurst, taking pole position and pressuring Shane van Gisbergen all the way to the flag to finish second in the race and the championship.
Hobbled in 2021 by Tickford’s struggles at Sydney Motorsport Park’s four rounds, Waters returned to form in 2022 and was often the biggest thorn in van Gisbergen’s side on his way to second in the championship.
Waters was awarded the first race victory of the Gen3 era in Newcastle following Triple Eight’s double-disqualification from the season-opener, giving him the championship lead for the first time. However, the balance of the season was a struggle amid the Ford Mustang’s wider parity issues, although lateseason changes allowed Waters to end the year with wins at the Gold Coast and Adelaide.
Waters achieved a life dream in 2024 of racing in the NASCAR Cup Series at Sonoma, having made a pair of starts in the third-tier Truck Series earlier in the year.
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Former Supercars Champion James Courtney and backer Snowy River Caravans switched teams for 2024, from the downsizing Tickford Racing to the expanding Blanchard Racing Team.
Courtney’s famed ‘Frank the Tank’ victory celebration hasn’t been sighted since 2016, but his Townsville weekend - where he qualified third in Sunday’s Top 10 Shootout - suggested that he could be on to extend his streak of podiums in 18 consecutive seasons before the year is out.
His list of achievements before joining Supercars full-time in 2006 is impressive, with two world karting championships, a Formula Ford title and Formula 3 race wins in Britain. Those feats landed him a Formula 1 testing role with Jaguar until a high-speed crash at Monza in 2002 changed the course of his career. Courtney moved to Japan to win the 2003 Japanese Formula 3 title and then shifted to Super GT. His versatility caught the attention of the then-Holden Racing Team, which signed him as an endurance driver alongside veteran Jim Richards in 2005.
Stone Brothers Racing signed Courtney to replace the NASCAR-bound Marcos Ambrose for 2006 and he finished on the podium at Bathurst for three straight years, taking his maiden Supercars race win at Queensland Raceway in 2008.
Courtney then moved to Dick Johnson Racing, winning a pair of races in 2009 then delivering five more in 2010 on the way to an underdog championship victory.
Courtney took the reigning champion’s #1 plate across to the Holden Racing Team in 2011 but results were sporadic, with seven race wins coming from his nine seasons with the team. He rounded out his time with the squad in a strong fashion, a third-place finish in the Bathurst 1000 headlining a run of top 10 finishes to end 2019.
He began the 2020 season with Team SYDNEY but they parted ways after just one round, and teamed with backer Boost Mobile to pounce on an opportunity at Tickford Racing when 23Red Racing closed its doors. Courtney showed flashes of the speed that won him a Supercars title 10 years earlier with a podium result at Hidden Valley in Darwin and a further three fourth-place finishes.
Courtney continued his streak of podium appearances through 2021, 2022 and into the Gen3 era in 2023, although his Wanneroo podium proved his only trip to the dais for a season in which Ford’s parity troubles and a pair of non-starts through accident damage restricted him to 17th in the championship standings, and left Tickford at the end of the season as it cut back from four cars to two.
He has brought a wealth of experience to BRT as it hopes to progress up the grid as a now two-car squad.
ANDRE HEIMGARTNER
R&J Batteries Racing
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
AGE 29
FROM Auckland, NZ
LIVES Perth, WA
FACEBOOK @AHRacing
INSTAGRAM @andreheimgartner
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2014
ROUNDS 114
RACES 258
2
PODIUMS 16
3
SYDNEY STATS DEBUT 2015
ROUNDS 11
27
FINISH 2nd
2
2
CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
14
1
1
QUAL 3rd CHAMP POS 11th
In his third season now with Brad Jones Racing, Andre Heimgartner has cemented his reputation as one of the new generation of stars of the Repco Supercars Championship, the Kiwi taking an emotional win on home soil at Taupō in April.
Heimgartner’s early career progressed through Formula Ford, Porsche Carrera Cup Australia and the Dunlop Super2 Series. His Supercars Championship debut came as a wildcard with Super Black Racing in an FPR-prepared Falcon in the 2014 Bathurst 1000 ahead of a full-time drive in 2015.
The Kiwi showed flashes of speed aboard the Super Black Falcon but was not given the opportunity to complete the season and shifted to Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport in 2016. He then missed out on a full-time seat in 2017 and, without so much as a co-drive, appeared lost to Supercars before a call-up to replace an injured Ash Walsh at BJR on the Friday of the Bathurst 1000.
Heimgartner continued with the team on the Gold Coast where a stirring drive in wet conditions helped net a podium alongside Tim Slade, a result that caught the attention of Kelly Racing. The then-Nissan squad signed him to a full-time deal in 2018 and retained the Kiwi through 2019 – its last year fielding Nissan Altimas – and into 2020, when it scaled back to two cars and switched to Ford.
He came close to breaking through for his first win during that COVID-impacted season, adding two second place finishes in Kelly Racing’s first season running Mustangs to the podium finish he’d achieved with the Altima in 2019 at Phillip Island. After edging teammate Rick Kelly in the standings in 2019, Heimgartner was clearly the team leader in 2020.
Heimgartner also matched well against David Reynolds in 2021; his breakthrough victory at The Bend was one of 11 top-10 finishes that put him clear of his teammate in the final points standings, despite the now-Kelly Grove Racing Mustangs’ form varying sharply from circuit to circuit.
He returned to BJR on a full-time basis in 2022 and settled in quickly as team leader he was its fastest qualifier 27 times, and posted four podiums amid 21 top-10 finishes that delivered him his first finish inside the championship top 10. Heimgartner continued leading the Albury squad in the Gen3 era, last year taking pole position for the night race at Sydney Motorsport Park and six podium finishes on the way to a career-best seventh in points.
Originally from New Zealand, Heimgartner is the only Perth resident on the Supercars grid this weekend having moved here last year with fiancée Jemma and daughter Summer.
Jack Le Brocq reunited with Erebus Motorsport for 2024 in a move that saw him join the reigning Repco Supercars Championship-winning team.
Coming up through the ranks of karts and Formula Vee, Le Brocq won the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2012. That same year he was bestowed with the CAMS Rising Star award, before being recruited into the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy.
Le Brocq caught the attention of Erebus team owner Betty Klimenko, who drafted him into her squad’s academy to drive Formula 3 and GT machinery; the latter included a podium in the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour.
He made his Supercars Championship debut at Sandown in 2015 sharing one of the team’s E63 AMGs alongside Ash Walsh.
By that point Le Brocq had already completed nearly two Dunlop Super2 Series seasons, having debuted in 2014 in an Image Racing-run Falcon and then an MW Motorsport Ford in 2015.
Le Brocq moved to Tickford Racing – then known as Prodrive Racing Australia – for 2016 and won seven races, but was beaten to the crown by teammate Garry Jacobson. He dovetailed his Super2 program at the Ford squad with an Enduro Cup co-drive alongside Cam Waters, the pair finishing fourth together at Bathurst.
In 2017, he moved back to MW Motorsport for the Super2 Series and became Nissan’s first Super2 race winner at Symmons Plains. He also competed as a wildcard entry in a selection of Supercars Championship events, in addition to serving as Kelly’s Nissan co-driver in the Enduro Cup.
Le Brocq moved into the ‘main game’ with TEKNO in 2018, finishing the season as the best of five rookies, but a difficult second year led to a return to Tickford.
A first Supercars Championship career win came in 2020 in a mixed tyre format race at Sydney Motorsport Park, backing it up with a second at The Bend.
Le Brocq’s second season with Tickford started strongly with sixth in the opening race at Mount Panorama but, although he finished just one place lower in the final points standings than the previous year, top five results proved elusive.
Le Brocq shifted north to Matt Stone Racing for 2022, a season highlighted by strong qualifying performances; Le Brocq scored the team’s first front-row start at Symmons Plains and led the opening lap of the race.
He then shone in the inaugural season of Gen3, taking his maiden Supercars pole position at Hidden Valley and converting it to a commanding race victory, both firsts for the Gold Coast-based Chevrolet outfit.
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Matt Stone Racing
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 AGE 35
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It took just two rounds for Nick Percat’s shift to Matt Stone Racing to bear fruit, taking an emotional race win in Supercars’ visit to Albert Park in March.
The move followed two challenging seasons at Walkinshaw Andretti United, the team that ushered him through the junior ranks towards Supercars and a shock Bathurst 1000 win on debut in 2011 with Garth Tander.
Signed by Walkinshaw Racing in 2007, Percat won the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2009 with a record number of race wins, then finished fourth in the 2010 Super2 Series to earn the endurance drive that, in 2011, saw him become the first rookie Bathurst winner in over 30 years.
Percat remained part of HRT’s endurance line-up while racing in Super2 for Walkinshaw Racing until the end of 2012, before switching to drive in the Porsche Carrera Cup in 2013.
He finally joined the ‘main game’ full time with Walkinshaw in 2014 under a Racing Entitlements Contract owned by James Rosenberg.
A second place finish at Sydney Motorsport Park and a third place at the Bathurst 1000 headlined a season where Percat was the highest-placed rookie with 12th in points, but he was left without a drive when Rosenberg elected to sell his REC at the end of the season.
Percat landed at Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport in 2015 and spent the following two seasons driving for his former Formula Ford teammate’s minnow squad.
While it was a tough period, the combination scored an upset Adelaide 500 win in 2016, a season that also included a Bathurst 1000 podium alongside Cameron McConville, before he settled into a long stint at Brad Jones Racing.
It was at BJR where Percat established his credentials as a driver capable of winning races in his own right. In five seasons with the Albury-based team, he brought home top-10 points finishes in all but 2017, his first year driving for it.
Percat took a pair of upset victories during the COVID-impacted 2020 season, while a string of consistent top 10 results across 2020 and 2021 delivered back-to-back seventh placings in points.
His return to WAU was heralded as a homecoming but highlights were few, headed by a second-place finish behind teammate Chaz Mostert at the season-ending 2022 Adelaide 500, the team carrying a retro Holden Racing Team livery in the marque’s final event in the championship.
Things didn’t improve last year amid the team’s switch to Ford Mustang machinery, and the fourth-generation Holden employee renewed his links with General Motors at MSR this year.
Astrong weekend in Taupō, a round he won overall to claim the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, highlights how Anton De Pasquale and the Shell V-Power Racing Team are rebounding from a challenging 2023 season.
De Pasquale posted the team’s only victory of the inaugural year of Gen3, his triumph in the Sunday race in Townsville aided by an extra set of fresh tyres saved through his early retirement from the Saturday race.
He was also the first Ford driver home in the Repco Bathurst 1000, claiming his first ‘Great Race’ podium finish alongside co-driver Tony D’Alberto.
Like many Supercars stars before him, De Pasquale followed a successful career in karting by winning the Australian Formula Ford Championship, taking the title in 2013.
He then set his sights on European open wheelers, winning the highly competitive Formula Renault 1.6 NEC Championship in 2014 with nine victories in 15 races. The next step was the Formula Renault 2.0 Series, but a lack of funding meant opportunities beyond that proved limited and he returned to Australia determined to break into Supercars.
De Pasquale joined Paul Morris Motorsports in 2016 in the Dunlop Super2 Series, finishing 11th as a rookie and third in the Bathurst 250-kilometre mini-endurance race in an older generation FG Falcon.
The following year he stepped into an ex-Prodrive FG X Falcon with Morris’ team and claimed his first Super2 race and round wins at Phillip Island, followed later in the year with another race and round win at Sydney Motorsport Park, plus his first Super2 pole at Sandown on his way to fourth in the series.
He was given a rookie test with Erebus late in 2017 and subsequently signed on as a full- time driver for the following year as teammate to David Reynolds. The headline of De Pasquale’s rookie season was a stunning Top 10 Shootout lap at the Bathurst 1000, where he stormed to third on the grid fractionally behind polewinning teammate Reynolds and seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup. All up though, Reynolds had the youngster’s measure across their first two seasons together but the tide turned in 2020, with De Pasquale taking his first race win at Hidden Valley.
He shifted to Dick Johnson Racing in 2021, replacing the departing Scott McLaughlin and working with the three-time series champion’s former crew, headed by engineering guru Ludo Lacroix. De Pasquale claimed race wins in each of his first three seasons with DJR – including Ford’s milestone 400th ATCC/Supercars Championship race win in 2021.
This year, De Pasquale has been paired with a new race engineer with Perry Kapper taking over duties on the #11 Mustang.
12
JAXON EVANS
SCT Motorsport
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
AGE 27
FROM Levin, NZ
LIVES Gold Coast, QLD FACEBOOK @jaxonjevans
INSTAGRAM @jaxonevans_
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2022
ROUNDS 9
RACES 17
BEST FINISH 10th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 15th
SYDNEY STATS
DEBUT 2024
ROUNDS N/A
RACES N/A
BEST FINISH N/A
PODIUMS N/A
BEST QUAL N/A
2024 CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
RACES 14
BEST FINISH 10th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 15th
CHAMP POS 21st
Jaxon Evans arrived this year as a full-time Repco Supercars Championship rookie with substantial international pedigree, the Kiwi having spent the past few seasons as a Porsche factory racer.
Born on the Fijian island of Rotuma, Evans was adopted as a baby by John and Deborah Evans, both of whom were involved in New Zealand motorsport as a mechanic and a racer respectively. In fact, Evans is a third-generation racer; his mum Deborah is part of the Lester their parents were a driving force behind the creation and running of the Manfeild Park circuit for several decades.
Moving to Australia when he was nine, Evans became interested in motorsport via the career of cousin Jono Lester, and started karting at age 11. That led to several seasons of karting and Formula Ford, but it was a test at Queensland Raceway aboard a McElrea Racing-run Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car when he was 17 years old that launched his career.
Evans’ impressive performance saw him brought under team boss Andy McElrea’s wing, ushering him up the Porsche ladder through GT3 Cup in 2015-16 and into Carrera Cup in 2017, culminating in a dominant 2018 season where he won six races amid 16 top-3 finishes on the way to the title.
His next career step came at the end of the year when he won the annual Porsche Junior Programme Shootout at Paul Ricard in France, beating out 10 other rising stars to earn a €225,000 scholarship and a drive in the 2019 Porsche Supercup, a regular support category at Formula 1 Grands Prix around Europe.
Despite no knowledge of the circuits, Evans impressed with a pole and a pair of podiums during a tough rookie season and landed a full-time drive in the Carrera Cup France for 2020. A title-winning season earnt him a return to Supercup for 2021, where he won at the Red Bull Ring on the way to second in the championship.
That result earnt him a multi-year contract with Porsche as one of its pool of gun steerers that it deploys to its GT partners in sportscar categories around the world.
Evans had dovetailed his 2021 Supercup season with a full-time World Endurance Championship drive with Dempsey Proton Racing – the team co-owned by movie and television star Patrick Dempsey – including making his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, while his Porsche contract saw him race across Europe and the United States in 2022 and 2023.
He made his Supercars debut as a co-driver with Brad Jones Racing at the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000, and rejoined the team for last year’s endurance races before taking over the reins of the SCT Motorsport entry full-time this year.
Bryce Fullwood looks to build on a strong first Gen3 season with Brad Jones Racing after coming agonisingly close to a maiden Repco Supercars Championship podium last year.
The Darwin product crossed the line third in the third race at Albert Park, only to drop to 12th with a post-race time penalty for an unsafe release from his pitstop.
The result had followed a career-best third-placing on the grid, one of several times Fullwood qualified the #14 Camaro inside the top 10.
A string of strong runs through the middle of the season, headlined by a top-five at Sydney Motorsport Park and a seventh at Bathurst with Dean Fiore, almost allowed him to crack the top 10 in points at year’s end.
The performances followed a steady first season with BJR in 2022, his best result of the season a fighting ninth place finish at the Repco Bathurst 1000.
Fullwood graduated to the ‘main game’ with Walkinshaw Andretti United in 2020 after winning the Dunlop Super2 Series title in 2019 in an MW Motorsport Nissan. Very much in the shadow of WAU’s star signing Chaz Mostert, Fullwood quietly went about settling into the top-flight before a series of mid-season qualifying performances captured attention.
His standout race result was a maiden podium finish at The Bend in September, ending the year as the best of two rookies on the championship grid that year.
He struggled to recapture that form in his sophomore season, however; fifth placings at Bathurst bookended a year that delivered only a handful of top-10 qualifying performances and race finishes.
Although technically a Supercars rookie in 2020, Fullwood already had five years of experience in the Dunlop Super2 Series, which he’d entered at the tender age of 16.
That first foray from karts into Super2 came in 2015, contesting the bulk of the season with Paul Morris Motorsports before switching to MWM for the final round, ending the year 17th.
He was 14th with MWM in 2016 and then 11th in 2017 after switching from one of the team’s previous-generation Falcons to a Nissan Altima mid-season, which brought an immediate upturn in results.
Fullwood’s career momentum took a hit in 2018 when he struggled to 17th in the Super2 standings with Matt Stone Racing, starting the year in a Falcon FG X before moving to a Commodore VF.
A move back to MWM for 2019 was touted as a make-or-break season and Fullwood made it count, winning the title in convincing fashion to earn his ‘main game’ promotion.
Will Davison continues to prove a competitive force two decades on from his debut in the Repco Supercars Championship.
The veteran’s storied Supercars career came after climbing the open wheel racing ranks, winning the 2001 Australian Formula Ford Championship before taking on Europe. He raced Formula Renault, Formula 3 and A1 Grand Prix, and tested with the Minardi Formula 1 team in late 2004.
By that point, he had already made his Supercars debut courtesy of a handful of starts with Team Dynamik in 2004; he was supposed to drive full-time for it in 2005 before a deal broke down on the eve of the season-opening Adelaide 500.
Davison first linked with Dick Johnson Racing for the 2005 endurance races before joining the team full-time for 2006, his threeyear stint with the squad including finishing on the podium at Bathurst with Steven Johnson in 2007 and taking a maiden race and round win at Eastern Creek in 2008, plus another round triumph at Winton.
He joined the Holden Racing Team in 2009, a move that yielded a Bathurst win and second in the championship in its first year before a tough 2010. Three years as a regular front-runner at Ford Performance Racing followed, ahead of a two-year stint with Erebus Motorsport during its Mercedes era, which produced a solitary win at Wanneroo in 2015.
Davison then spent two years at TEKNO Autosports, winning Bathurst with Jonathon Webb and finishing fifth in the championship standings in 2016 prior to a second-year slump, but he remained on the grid for 2018 courtesy of a lifeline from 23Red Racing.
He led the team through a difficult maiden season and reaped the rewards in 2019 when Tickford Racing took over operating the 23Red entry, coming agonisingly close to wins at Queensland Raceway and The Bend. However, the team closed its doors during the early stages of 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic; Davison was fourth in the championship standings at the time yet out of a drive. A co-drive lifeline came from Tickford, and a second-placing with Cam Waters at Bathurst earnt a golden latecareer opportunity with DJR.
Front-running performances during the 2021 season were finally converted to wins in 2022, while Davison came one top-qualifying performance shy of netting the Pole Champion Award. Ford’s parity deficit in the first year of Gen3 meant 2023 was challenging for Davison, for whom the highlight was a podium finish at Hidden Valley that was one of just two top-five finishes across the season.
Davison sits inside the top 10 in points heading to Sydney, highlighted by a secondplace finish in the Saturday race at Taupō and strong qualifying runs in Townsville.
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18
MARK WINTERBOTTOM
DEWALT Racing Team 18
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
AGE 43
FROM Sydney, NSW
LIVES Melbourne, VIC
FACEBOOK @markjwinterbottom
INSTAGRAM @markjwinterbottom
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2003
ROUNDS 281
RACES 635
WINS 39
PODIUMS 120 POLES 36
SYDNEY STATS
DEBUT 2004
ROUNDS 19
RACES 46
WINS 1
PODIUMS 4
BEST QUAL 2nd
2024 CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
RACES 14
BEST FINISH 2nd
PODIUMS 2
BEST QUAL 3rd
CHAMP POS 13th
Mark Winterbottom returned to the winners list in last year’s Repco Supercars Championship with a longawaited maiden triumph for Team 18. The commanding win in Darwin broke a sevenyear drought and delivered his first race victory in a General Motors product.
Prior to joining Team 18 for 2019, Winterbottom – who has carried the nickname ‘Frosty’ for most of his career – had been synonymous with Ford.
Winning the Ford KartStars Series springboarded him into Formula Ford, where he finished runner-up to future Supercars rival Jamie Whincup in the 2002 Australian championship.
He was picked up by Stone Brothers Racing in 2003 and drove an AU Falcon to victory in the Super2 Series. That year he also made his Supercars Championship debut as an endurance driver in SBR’s second car.
He moved into the championship full-time in 2004 with Mark Larkham’s Falcon squad and joined Ford Performance Racing in 2006, beginning a relationship that spanned 13 seasons, earnt a Supercars Championship title and a Bathurst 1000 victory.
Victory in the 2013 Bathurst 1000 alongside Steve Richards remains Winterbottom’s Mount Panorama highlight, the win coming in his 11th start in the ‘Great Race’. He also secured a long sought-after championship win in 2015.
Winterbottom initially joined Team 18 on a two-year deal, but has since signed two more contract extensions to remain with the squad until the end of 2024.
His time with the team started with a bang, taking pole position in just his third event aboard its Triple Eight-built Commodore at Symmons Plains, but continued to fall agonisingly short of a podium finish.
That drought continued into the final season of Gen2, although Winterbottom’s consistent top-10 results netted a ninth-place championship finish, his best since departing Tickford and equalling the best scored by any Team 18 driver.
The breakthrough podium finally came with a bang in 2023, with Winterbottom’s victory at Hidden Valley putting him on the top step for the first time since Pukekohe in late-2016.
Winterbottom’s success and longevity means he tops the lists of most race wins, podiums and poles among active drivers on the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship grid.
It took him just two rounds to add to the podium metric in 2024; Winterbottom raced his way to second place in the Friday race at Albert Park and backed it up with another at Hidden Valley last month, representing his 119th and 120th trips to the dais across his Supercars career.
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An emphatic win in Townsville plus a pair of poles at Albert Park and Taupō in 2024 shows that Matt Payne’s incredible finish to his rookie Repco Supercars Championship season was no flash in the pan.
The 21-year-old New Zealander turned in several impressive performances as last year went on, culminating in a pair of front-row starts at the final two rounds and a dominant drive at the VAILO Adelaide 500 that made him the 85th driver to win an ATCC/Supercars Championship race.
Payne’s performances are all the more remarkable given it was only his third full season racing cars since stepping up from karting, where the Auckland teen scored multiple championships.
Those successes initially led to a chance to race karts in Europe in 2020, but the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic scuppered the deal.
Instead, he graduated to circuit racing in New Zealand’s Toyota Racing Series, winning the three-race 2021 title and finishing third in the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Payne was also the first recipient of the Team Porsche NZ scholarship under the tutelage of multiple Le Mans 24 Hours winner Earl Bamber, leading to a drive in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia in 2021. He impressed with back-to-back poles at The Bend and Townsville and put in an assured drive to victory at the latter round, finishing sixth in the standings overall.
Payne’s form saw him recruited as the foundation driver of the Grove Junior Team in mid-2021, with the goal of graduating to the Repco Supercars Championship with the squad last year.
There were indications he’d move to the ‘main game’ sooner than that, but Grove Racing elected to field him in a Nissan Altima in the second-tier class instead of rushing a promotion for 2022.
The extra season behind the wheel of a second-tier machine paid dividends with Payne sharpening his skills against a field of fellow Supercars aspirants, and he led the points early in the season off the back of his maiden race and round wins at Wanneroo.
But his title hopes took significant blows in Townsville, when he was the innocent victim of a crash off the start of the Sunday race, and the following round at Sandown, where he tangled with Matt Chadha while battling for second in the Saturday race. Payne rebounded with a win on the Sunday at Sandown and he remained in title contention all the way to the final race at Adelaide.
To cap his graduation, Payne finally made his ‘main game’ debut at the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000, impressing alongside veteran Lee Holdsworth in finishing sixth.
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David Reynolds shifted to Team 18 for 2024 off the back of his best Repco Supercars Championship campaign in recent years.
The rise of Grove Racing over the past two seasons, and particularly the final rounds of 2023, allowed Reynolds to refresh the memories of those who’d forgotten his reputation as one of the category’s most formidable racers.
He held off the stern advances of eventual series champion Brodie Kostecki to claim a breakthrough victory for the team on the Gold Coast last year, ending a personal drought that stretched back to the final race of 2018 and falling on the 10th anniversary of his first win in the category.
Reynolds’ career to date is packed with success, winning the Australian Formula Ford and Carrera Cup titles en route to Supercars, where his debut came in 2007 as Cameron McConville’s co-driver at PWR Racing, and he drove a Tony D’Alberto Racing-run Holden in the 2008 Fujitsu (Super2) Series before graduating to the ‘main game’ in 2009 with Walkinshaw Racing.
Reduced to an endurance driver role for 2010, he returned to full-time duties with Kelly Racing in 2011 then jumped across to Rod Nash Racing to drive its FPR-prepared Falcon in 2012.
The move delivered instant results as Reynolds finished a close second in the 2012 Bathurst 1000 and built himself into a championship contender by 2015, finishing third that season before departing for Erebus.
He signed for Erebus when it was based on the Gold Coast and racing Mercedes-Benz AMG E63s, but the team elected to start afresh for 2016 with a move to Melbourne and ex-Walkinshaw Commodores. The year ended with a maiden podium finish at Sydney Olympic Park followed by their upset Bathurst 1000 triumph with Luke Youlden in 2017, and only a bout of ill-timed cramp stopped the pair from making it back-to-back ‘Great Race’ wins in 2018. The relationship soured during a rough 2020 campaign and they agreed to part ways at the end of the season, just one year into a 10-year deal.
His 2021 move to what was then known as Kelly Grove Racing put him in familiar surroundings, having driven for then-Holden team Kelly Racing in 2011.
After failing to grace the podium during his final season with Erebus, Reynolds returned to the dais in 2021 in just his fifth race with Kelly Grove Racing and led the resurgent Grove squad into the Gen3 era, which he opened with pole on Sunday in Newcastle.
Reynolds also became a factory GT driver in 2024, selected by Mercedes-AMG to join its pool of global stars in its ‘Expert’ tier.
Abreakthrough result continues to elude Tim Slade after a slow start to the 2024 season for the PremiAir Nulon Racing driver.
The Sydney-born South Australian has spent the past three rounds with the renowned Ludo Lacroix as his race engineer, but impressive pace at Taupō, Wanneroo and Hidden Valley has yet to be rewarded with good finishes.
Slade began his career in open-wheelers, finishing second in the 2006 Australian Formula Ford Championship after also dabbling in Formula 3. Slade progressed to the Super2 Series in 2007 and the following year ran his own team to claim the Privateers Cup and a race and round win at Wakefield Park.
His persistence captured the attention of Supercars team owner Paul Morris and, with the help of long-time backer James Rosenberg, Slade was rewarded with a full-time championship drive in 2009. That season netted top 10 results alongside Morris in the Phillip Island and Bathurst endurance races.
A shift to Stone Brothers Racing in 2010 yielded further improvements, taking his first podium finish in 2011. A career best of fifth in points followed in 2012, before the Ford squad transformed into Erebus Motorsport for 2013.
He crossed the floor to Holden for the 2014 season, spending two years piloting Walkinshaw Racing Commodores then joining Brad Jones Racing in the Freightliner Commodore in 2016. That season included the standout weekend of Slade’s career to date; at the Winton round he took his first Supercars race win at his 227th attempt and repeated the following day. He finished 2016 eighth in the championship, but the following years proved tougher and left Slade with little more than a few podium finishes.
Unable to land a full-time drive for 2020, Slade secured a co-drive with DJR Team Penske, helping Scott McLaughlin secure his third Supercars title at Bathurst, before returning to the grid with upstart squad Blanchard Racing Team in 2021.
He posted impressive results with the one-car outfit and came very close to scoring top-10 championship finishes in both 2021 and 2022, before shifting to PremiAir for 2023. Bad luck scuppered Slade’s two best shots at podiums last year; a wheel nut problem turned fourth on the grid in Newcastle to 22nd, while engine problems took him out of fifth place at Symmons Plains.
Slade has proven his speed in various classes outside of Supercars in recent years, winning the World Time Attack Challenge in 2016 and 2017, sharing victory in the Intercontinental GT Challenge round at Laguna Seca in 2019 with HubAuto Racing, and setting a new outright lap record at Phillip Island aboard a Brabham BT62 supercar in 2022.
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Chaz Mostert remains Ford’s leading challenger in the Repco Supercars Championship battle for 2024, a year that he and Walkinshaw Andretti United broke through for the first win of their new partnership with the ‘blue oval’.
The year started with a significant change for one of the championship’s biggest stars, with Sam Scaffidi replacing long-time race engineer Adam DeBorre at his side. The pair have produced the most consistent Mustang through the year so far, headlined by a race victory in Wanneroo.
Mostert began his career in karts and won the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2010, making his Dunlop Super2 Series debut the same year with Miles Racing. He competed in the series with them full-time in 2011 but was then snapped up by Ford Performance Racing, finishing third overall in 2012 with two round wins.
He began 2013 driving an ex-FPR Falcon for MW Motorsport in the Dunlop Series before receiving a ‘main game’ call-up to join Dick Johnson Racing and broke through for his maiden race win at Queensland Raceway, DJR’s first victory in three years.
Will Davison’s exit from FPR opened the door for the FPR-contracted Mostert to drive its #6 Ford in 2014, when he took a famous last-lap Bathurst win with Paul Morris. A year later Mostert was mounting a serious title challenge when a horror qualifying crash at Bathurst left him with a broken leg and wrist, sidelining him for the rest of the year. He returned for the start of 2016 and proved a regular front-runner for the Ford team over the next four seasons.
Mostert joined WAU for 2020 to take up the challenge of resurrecting the former champion squad’s fortunes. DeBorre made the move with him, and the 2021 season saw them deliver a breakthrough victory at Symmons Plains – WAU’s first in three years – plus further wins at Hidden Valley and at Bathurst where Mostert and co-driver Lee Holdsworth took a dominant victory, claiming pole position and fastest lap of the race on the way to his second ‘Great Race’ triumph.
The team’s switch to Ford for 2023 didn’t deliver the hoped-for silverware, but Mostert was the best-placed Mustang driver in the final championship standings.
In addition to Supercars, Mostert has proven his pedigree in GT racing, undertaking a stint as a factory BMW driver that included pole position for the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour and a class victory in the 2020 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. More recently, he became the co-owner of GT team Method Motorsport and will also spend the 2024 season driving a Ferrari 296 GT3 alongside Liam Talbot in the GT World Challenge Australia series.
RICHIE STANAWAY
Penrite Racing
Ford Mustang GT
AGE 32
FROM Tauranga, NZ
LIVES Melbourne, VIC INSTAGRAM @richiestanaway
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2016
ROUNDS 43
RACES 79 WINS 2 PODIUMS 4 POLES 1
SYDNEY STATS DEBUT 2018
1 RACES 1
BEST FINISH 21st
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 24th
2024 CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
RACES 14
BEST FINISH 4th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 5th
CHAMP POS 12th
It was a very different Richie Stanaway that returned to the Repco Supercars Championship grid, just over four years since he quit the category and motorsport entirely.
For starters, he is now a Repco Bathurst 1000 winner. Triple Eight Race Engineering recruited the Kiwi to partner Shane van Gisbergen at last year’s endurance races, and he delivered two flawless drives to claim third at the Penrite Oils Sandown 500 and the victory at Mount Panorama – performances that completed an incredible redemption arc that culminated in a full-time seat for 2024 with Grove Racing.
Originally from a motocross background, Stanaway switched to speedway racing at age 12 and progressed through karts and open wheelers in Formula First and Formula Ford, clinching the New Zealand title in the latter in 2008/09. He competed in the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2009 before taking up an opportunity in Germany to test and race in the German-based ADAC Formula Masters Championship, a title he returned to win in 2010 with 12 race wins.
He rose quickly through Formula Renault UK and won the 2011 German F3 Series before spending time in GP3, Porsche Supercup, Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2, but lost career momentum when he missed most of 2012 after breaking his back in a FR3.5 crash at Spa-Francorchamps. Although he recovered and went on to win races in GP3 and GP2, F1 opportunities weren’t forthcoming so Stanaway shifted focus to GT racing, landing a coveted seat in Aston Martin’s FIA World Endurance Championship GT squad that included opportunities to race in the famous Le Mans 24 Hour.
Stanaway made his Supercars in 2016 with an impressive pair of co-drives in the Prodrive-run Super Black Racing Falcon, and partnered with Cam Waters to win the Sandown 500 the following year. The good results – including a race win in a cameo Dunlop Super2 Series appearance – led to his full-time main game debut in 2018 with the team. It was a bruising rookie season however, and both parties decided to go their separate ways at the end of the year. After another difficult season at Garry Rogers Motorsport, Stanaway quit motorsport entirely and got a day job at home in New Zealand.
However, an opportunity from long-time support Peter Adderton put him back into a Boost Mobile-backed wildcard alongside Greg Murphy for the Bathurst 1000. Initially slated for 2021 but delayed a year to 2022 due to the logistics of travel during COVID lockdowns, a revitalised Stanaway qualified for the Top 10 Shootout in a performance that helped land the Triple Eight co-drive for 2023.
James Golding came agonisingly close to breaking through for a maiden Repco Supercars Championship race win at Hidden Valley last month, but took his first Supercars pole for PremiAir Nulon Racing.
An accomplished karter, the Warragul-raised racer has an Australia National title and two Victorian state titles to his name, while the Victorian represented Australia at the World Rotax Grand Finals in 2012, where he was ranked seventh in the world.
Golding graduated to open wheelers the following year, contesting the Victorian Formula Ford Championship and winning on debut.
Racking up the most race wins despite missing one round, Golding ended his maiden assault in fourth before stepping up to the national championship in 2014, when he was narrowly beaten to the title and finished third overall with five race wins.
Golding’s talent soon caught the eye of team owner Garry Rogers, who gave him the chance to contest the final round of the 2014 Dunlop Series at Sydney Olympic Park.
He impressed on debut, so much so that GRM granted him a drive in the Dunlop Series in 2015, setting his path to a full-time Supercars drive in motion.
Golding enjoyed a solid season in 2016 in a GRM-run Commodore, finishing fourth in the series with four podium finishes and two race wins at Phillip Island and Sandown.
He also made his ‘main game’ debut as James Moffat’s co-driver in the #34 GRM Volvo S60 in that year’s Enduro Cup, but his first race at Sandown ended abruptly when a punctured tyre pitched him into the wall at the Esses on the opening lap.
More enduro outings and solo wildcard starts followed in 2017 before Golding stepped up to a full-time seat with GRM in 2018, impressing with a strong drive at Bathurst where an airbox fire denied him a berth in the Top 10 Shootout ahead of an eighth-place finish on race day.
He remained with the team into a challenging 2019 season, but GRM’s exit from Supercars at the end of the year left him without a seat and at a career crossroads.
Golding kept his skills sharp in the emerging S5000 category, winning races in cars developed and run by GRM, and kept his hand in Supercars with impressive endurance drives with Team 18 in 2020 and 2021.
He was scheduled to rejoin Team 18 for the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000 until a mid-season opportunity came up with PremiAir.
A series of eye-catching performances across the tail of the season secured a full-time drive with the team for 2023 when he again impressed, this time matched against veteran teammate Tim Slade.
THOMAS RANDLE
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
AGE 28
FROM Melbourne, VIC
LIVES Melbourne, VIC
FACEBOOK @thomasrandle49
INSTAGRAM @thomasrandle
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2019
ROUNDS 40 RACES 93
BEST FINISH 2nd
PODIUMS 5
POLES 1
SYDNEY STATS
DEBUT 2021
ROUNDS 3
RACES 7
BEST FINISH 14th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 12th
2024 CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
RACES 14
BEST FINISH 4th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 3rd
CHAMP POS 10th
Thomas Randle began his third full season in the Repco Supercars Championship season off the back of a breakthrough campaign with Tickford Racing.
The Melburnian came on strong in the second half of 2023, taking his first pole position at The Bend and finishing all three races on the podium before claiming another in Adelaide, and he remained with the team amid its reduction to two entries for 2024.
Randle was a star in karts and made the move into car racing in 2013 in the Australian Formula Ford Series, winning the 2014 series with five race victories.
He finished runner-up in the 2015 CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship and third in that year’s national Sports Sedan series in father Dean’s V8-powered Saab.
Randle gathered further open-wheel experience overseas in British Formula 3 (winner of two races at Rockingham and Spa), Formula V8 3.5 Series, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Formula Renault 2.0 NEC as well as LMP3 sportscar competition, and victory in New Zealand’s Toyota Racing Series in 2017.
Randle made a one-off appearance in a Rusty French-owned Falcon BF in the 2017 V8 Touring Car Series round at Queensland Raceway and stepped into Super2 with Tickford in 2018.
It proved a breakout year; Randle won the prestigious Mike Kable Young Gun Award after an impressive rookie season that included a pole position and a podium finish in Perth. The following year saw Randle claim his first race and round wins and two more poles on his way to third in points.
Randle also made his ‘main game’ debut with the Ford squad in 2019, driving at Tailem Bend as a wildcard before an Enduro Cup campaign with Lee Holdsworth that included a third place finish in the Sandown 500.
A switch to MW Motorsport for the 2020 Super2 Series paid dividends as Randle romped to the title, finishing either first or second in all seven races of the COVID-shortened season.
The win capped a rollercoaster 12 months for Randle. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in late 2019 and had treatment throughout 2020, completing his last round of chemotherapy on New Year’s Day in 2021.
After signing to co-drive at Brad Jones Racing for 2020, Randle returned to Tickford in 2021 with a pair of top-10 finishes in wildcard ‘main game’ appearances before graduating full-time drive for 2022.
Armed with impressive race pace and improving his qualifying performances throughout the year, Randle’s best chances for breakthrough results in 2022 were hobbled by pit stop and mechanical issues, while he was lucky to escape a nasty startline crash at The Bend without injury.
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WILL BROWN
Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
AGE 26
FROM Toowoomba, QLD LIVES Toowoomba, QLD FACEBOOK @willbrown38 INSTAGRAM @willbrown38
CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
50
116
8
25
6
Will Brown stepped into some very big shoes in taking over Shane van Gisbergen’s seat at Triple Eight Race Engineering for 2024, but rose to the occasion and leads the championship after posting race wins at Bathurst, Albert Park and Taupō and podiums in 12 of 14 races so far.
The Toowoomba product moved to the Brisbane-based squad off the back of three seasons with Erebus Motorsport, where he grew from race-winning rookie to a genuine title contender.
Brown made his full-time ‘main game’ debut in 2021 aboard Erebus Motorsport’s flagship #9 entry previously raced by David Reynolds, although his graduation was originally announced by the team way back in November 2019.
He delivered a top-five finish in the third round at Symmons Plains, while the quadruple-header at Sydney Motorsport Park was particularly fruitful.
He took his maiden podium finish, then his first pole position, then, at the third SMP round, held off a charging but sparring Triple Eight duo Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup to take a popular and emotional maiden race victory.
Brown capped the year with provisional pole for the Repco Bathurst 1000. His sophomore season contained more downs than ups, highlighted by a strong mid-year run that netted a podium finish at Sandown.
1
Erebus emerged as frontrunners in the first season of the Gen3 era, with Brown taking several race wins in the first half of the season to take the championship lead in Townsville, before a series of incidents in the second half scuppered his title bid.
Prior to Supercars, Brown first established his pedigree with a pair of junior category title wins in 2016, claiming both the Australian Formula 4 Championship and Toyota 86 Racing Series in the same season.
He moved to the Dunlop Super2 Series in 2017 aboard an Eggleston Motorsport Holden Commodore and made an immediate impact, ending the season with the Mike Kable Young Gun Award.
A mechanical failure cost him a maiden race win at Newcastle in 2017; he had to wait until 2019 to finally break through for a race victory, winning under lights at the Perth SuperNight event.
He finished sixth in the 2018 Dunlop Super2 Series but was 12th in an inconsistent 2019 campaign, before scoring second in 2020 after switching to Image Racing with backing from Erebus.
From 2018 to 2020 he dovetailed his Super2 campaigns with endurance co-drives at Erebus, joining Anton De Pasquale for two years before linking with David Reynolds.
Broc Feeney’s bid for a maiden Repco Supercars Championship title has sharpened across the Hidden Valley and Townsville rounds.
Following a couple of tough rounds for Feeney at Taupō and Wanneroo, a sweep in Darwin allied to teammate Will Brown’s rough run on Sunday in Townsville allowed him to trim his deficit to the points leader to 78.
Last year, the 21-year-old built on his impressive 2022 rookie campaign with a string of victories that earnt him the tag ‘Mr Sunday’, headed by victory with team boss Jamie Whincup at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.
While his title challenge faltered with a mechanical failure at the Repco Bathurst 1000, third place overall in his second full-time Supercars season illustrated why Triple Eight recruited him as its star of the future.
A protege of 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner Paul Morris, Feeney built an impressive CV on the road to Supercars. Following in the footsteps of father Paul Feeney, who raced on two wheels in the 1970s and ‘80s, Broc began racing motorbikes at the age of three.
He moved across to karts at age nine and then cars at 15, becoming the youngest race winner in Toyota 86 Racing Series history before making the leap to the Super3 Series. Feeney became the category’s youngest champion, taking a first-up pole position and race win in the opening round ahead of a consistent run to the title.
14
5
8
3
POS 2nd
He graduated to the Dunlop Super2 Series with Tickford Racing in 2020 and finished seventh overall in the COVID-impacted season, qualifying on the front row of the grid for both races at Sydney Motorsport Park in July but crashing out of the Bathurst finale.
A switch to Triple Eight for 2021 paid dividends with Feeney claiming the Super2 title off the back of four wins and four second placings across the 10-race season, along with three pole positions that earnt him the Super2 Pole Champion Award.
It also earnt him a full-time promotion to the ‘main game’ for 2022, taking over the seat of seven-time champion Whincup. Feeney impressed quickly, posting maiden podium finishes in the second round at Symmons Plains and taking a total of 25 top 10 finishes across the season, which ended with his first race victory at the VALO Adelaide 500.
Feeney already had a pair of Bathurst 1000 starts under his belt prior to his full-time graduation. The first came in 2020, pairing with Tickford Racing’s James Courtney to a top 10 finish on his 18th birthday.
He took on lead driver duties one year later in a Triple Eight wildcard entry with Russell Ingall, and dovetailed the high-profile role with his ultimately successful pursuit of the Super2 Series title on the same weekend.
MACAULEY JONES
Pizza Hut Racing
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
AGE 29
FROM Albury, NSW
LIVES Albury, NSW
FACEBOOK @officialmacauleyjones
INSTAGRAM @macauleyjones96
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
DEBUT 2015
ROUNDS 85
RACES 188
BEST FINISH 6th
PODIUMS 0 BEST QUAL 8th
SYDNEY STATS
DEBUT 2020
ROUNDS 8
RACES 21
BEST FINISH 8th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 9th
2024 CHAMPIONSHIP STATS
RACES 14
BEST FINISH 17th
PODIUMS 0
BEST QUAL 14th
CHAMP POS 22nd
Macauley Jones is in his sixth full-time Repco Supercars Championship season in 2024, all with Brad Jones Racing.
The son of team owner and former driver Brad, Jones is another youngster who rose through karting into Formula Ford, winning the Australian championship’s Rookie of the Year award in 2012.
In 2013 he took a string of five straight race wins on his way to fourth in points, a year that he also raced in New Zealand’s Toyota Racing Series. Jones moved into the Dunlop Super2 Series with BJR midway through 2013 and started the first of four full-time seasons in the class the following year.
He finished 12th, ninth and seventh in his first three campaigns and then suffered a series of misfortunes that cost a breakthrough win and a shot at the title in 2018, including two suspension failures in Townsville and contact from Garry Jacobson at The Chase on the last lap at the Bathurst round.
Although remaining without a race win in the Dunlop Super2 Series itself, Jones did take out the Bathurst 250-kilometre race when it was a non-points event in 2017.
Jones already had 23 races in the Supercars Championship under his belt prior to his rookie season in 2019, spending four years as an Enduro Cup co-driver at BJR. Two of those campaigns came alongside Nick Percat, scoring a best Bathurst result of seventh in 2018 and a best race result of sixth at the Gold Coast 600 just weeks later.
Jones moved into the ‘main game’ with a full-time drive in 2019 when he took over the reins of the Team CoolDrive entry from Tim Blanchard. However, his full-time Supercars career endured a false start at the Adelaide 500 a brake failure-induced crash in practice meant Jones missed the season-opening race. He ended his rookie season 21st in the championship and improved to 19th in his last season in CoolDrive colours in 2020.
Blanchard’s move to start his own squad in 2021 saw Jones move completely under the BJR umbrella, piloting its #96 Coca-Cola sponsored entry and posting a pair of top-10 qualifying efforts at Hidden Valley and Townsville. In 2022, Jones posted the best race finish of his solo-driver Supercars career with sixth place at Albert Park, equalling his enduro best from 2018. Retaining Pizza Hut backing for the first year of the Gen3 era, Jones netted a pair of seventh-placings as his best from a challenging year.
Outside of the cockpit, Jones also hosts the team’s podcast, The Brad Jones Racing Run Down, with BJR team manager Chris Westwood. He also set the Guinness World Record for the doing 870 burpees in one hour in 2019, a mantle he held for almost two years.
FIRST FIGHT UNDER LIGHTS
The stars will battle it out in a night race for the first time in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia’s modern era, reports WILL DALE…
It has been six years since Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia has visited Sydney Motorsport Park, with this weekend marking the fourth round of what has been an enthralling 2024 season so far.
This year’s battle for this year’s Equity-One Pro class title is shaping up to be one between young and old, with returning former champion Harri Jones and fellow rising star Jackson Walls leading the standings over veterans Dale Wood and David Russell.
It was the 2022 series winner that prevailed in the most recent event at Hidden Valley, Jones putting on a clinic to sweep pole position and all three race wins to claim the round over Wood, while Walls rounded out the podium.
Jones’ second overall win of 2024 ended a category-record streak of eight different
round victors in as many events, a run that dated back to last year’s Townsville event. The other driver to win a round this year is Russell, who took a long-awaited breakthrough Carrera Cup Australia triumph at Taupō in April.
In the SP Tools Pro-Am class, the battle has been much more one-sided. Reigning victor Adrian Flack has been on a tear in 2024 to date, having taken class honours in all three rounds and the last eight races on the bounce.
There is also a runaway leader in the Michelin Junior Drivers standings, with Walls almost 100 points ahead of Bayley Hall off the back of class wins in the last five races straight.
Plenty has changed since the series last graced Sydney Motorsport Park in 2018. For a start, this is the first time that the current-generation Type 992 GT3 Cup
Car will compete on the western Sydney circuit, while Saturday’s opening sprint will mark the first time the championship has conducted a night race since the category’s resumption in 2011; the original run of the series raced under lights on the Gold Coast back in 2004.
The category will also welcome back a couple of familiar names this weekend, headlined by five-time Bathurst 1000 winner and 2007 Supercars Champion, Garth Tander. The Grove Racing enduro co-driver will make his first Carrera Cup Australia start since last year’s round at The Bend and will do so in a car with strong pedigree; it’s the same machine that Callum Hedge drove to last year’s Pro title. Joining Tander is three-time Pro-Am champion Stephen Grove, who will also be back on the grid this weekend in a brand new car. ■
PORSCHE PAYNTER DIXON CARRERA CUP AUSTRALIA, ROUND
V8 SUPERUTES BATTLE IN THE EMERALD CITY
A close title contest continues in the V8 SuperUtes as WILL DALE previews the action …
The Tyrepower V8 SuperUte Series is delicately poised as it heads to Sydney Motorsport Park for the third round of its 2024 season, supporting the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight.
Just four points separate the two drivers at the top of the standings and – wouldn’t you know it – they’re also teammates! Reigning champion Aaron Borg and Adam Marjoram are competing under the Team Motion Racing banner in a pair of Isuzu D-MAX, and each has a round win to their names so far.
Borg took the chocolates ahead of Marjoram at the season-opening Mount Panorama round in February, while the Western Australian turned the tables in the top end last month, taking the overall round win in Darwin, aided by scoring the five bonus points on offer for pole position.
Just four points separate the pair heading into this weekend, but there are a host of racers out to knock them off.
David Sieders sits third in the standings and took pole position for the season opener at Bathurst, while Cameron Crick sits fourth in points and is so far the only driver to pinch a win off Borg and Marjoram this year, doing so last time out at Hidden Valley.
Behind the leading quartet are a trio of young guns, two of whom are in their
rookie V8 SuperUte campaigns.
Newcomer Jayden Wanzek heads series regular Cody Brewczynski by just three points, with another rookie in Ryan How just a further five markers adrift. Brewczynski arrives in Sydney on a roll of late; he finished third for the round in Darwin, then claimed second overall in the Aussie Racing Cars round in Townsville a fortnight ago.
Former champ Ryal Harris moves back into a Mazda BT-50 this weekend, with Chris Formosa taking back the reins of his Ford Ranger in what will be his first round start of the 2024 season.
This weekend marks the halfway point of this year’s six-round Tyrepower V8 SuperUte Series, with the remaining rounds scheduled for Bathurst and the Gold Coast in October and Adelaide in November. ■
TYREPOWER V8 SUPERUTE SERIES, ROUND 3
Toyota’s junior racing series enters a new era in 2024. WILL DALE previews the action…
Toyota’s entry level class for young racers has been around for nearly a decade now, and it enters a new era with its 2024 season.
The first obvious change is to the name. Formally, the series is now called the Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia GR Cup, a change that further highlights the manufacturer’s sports and performance brand.
The other obvious change is to the cars themselves. A brand-new model GR86 made its racing debut in the opening round
of the 2024 GR Cup on the Townsville streets a fortnight ago, with more power and less weight than the model it replaced.
A bumper field of 25 cars is entered for the first leg of the five-round series, which appears on the Repco Supercars Championship undercard throughout the second half of this year. It’s an appropriate link, given the class has been a step on the ladder for many current Supercars stars, headlined by Triple Eight duo Will Brown and Broc Feeney.
One element of the category that has remained this year is the presence of two star guest drivers in the field at each round, serving as both benchmarks and mentors for the category’s young chargers. This weekend, rally champions Harry and Lewis Bates (below) take on the guest driver roles.
Bradi Owen leads the standings after clean-sweeping pole and all three races in Townsville, with James Lodge and third-generation racer Max Geoghegan his closest challengers heading into the second round this weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park. Others to keep an eye on at SMP are former race winner Clay Richards, leading woman racer Alice Buckley, last year’s Kaizen Award winner Ryan Tomsett and 2022 series champion Lachie Gibbons, who looks to rebound from a horror Townsville weekend where a Race 1 crash put him out for the entire weekend.
The Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia GR Cup appears on the Supercars support card at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, Repco Bathurst 1000 and Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500. ■
TOYOTA GAZOO RACING AUSTRALIA GR CUP, ROUND 2
Touring Car Masters is back bigger and better in 2024 with familiar faces and cars set to storm Sydney, reports WILL DALE…
The signature retro rumble of Touring Car Masters is set to shake western Sydney this weekend.
The fourth round of the 2024 season has attracted naming rights backing from Duggan Family Hotels, an extension of its support of Scott Cameron’s #85 Chevrolet Camaro.
“Having been part of the TCM series for a short time they have decided to get a little more involved and have come on board for this wonderful showcase event which happens right in the vicinity of their home base.” TCM’s Tony Hunter said.
The traditional Ford vs Holden rivalry was in full force last time out at Hidden
Valley with VB Commodore pilot Adam Garwood pipping reigning champion Steven Johnson to the round win.
Garwood launched a bold pass on the penultimate lap to nab victory in the final sprint, leaving them tied on points but with Garwood getting the nod for round honours courtesy of the race win.
The pair resume battle this weekend, each leading a horde of contenders. Johnson leads the Ford fleet, backed up by Marcus Zukanovic in his popular XD Falcon, along with Mustang runners Jamie and Brad Tilley and Tony Karanfilovski. Joining Garwood in the General Motors brigade is Ryan Hansford and his Holden Torana, assisted by
category stalwarts Jim Pollicina, Andrew Fisher and Danny Buzadzic, while Bob and Sharon Middleton’s venerable #95 Chevrolet Camaro has been in the mix all season with Aussie Racing Cars star Joel Heinrich behind the wheel.
Another young gun will make his debut in Sydney in 17-year-old Rylan Gray. The Dunlop Super2 Series racer will pilot dad Jeremy’s wild V8-engined Ford Capri Perana.
Garwood leads the Pro Am class points heading to Sydney Motorsport Park off the back of two round wins to Johnson’s one, with the multiple TCM Series winner sitting 53 points adrift after a challenging run in the second round at Wanneroo. ■
TOURING CAR MASTERS, ROUND 4
SPORTS SEDANS READY TO RUMBLE FOR THE ‘DES’
The Precision National Sports Sedan Series joins the Supercars support card for the first time in 2024. WILL DALE previews the action…
The popular Precision National Sports Sedan Series makes its first visit to the Repco Supercars Championship support card at this weekend’s Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight.
Wild and wonderful with a host of different body styles and a wide variety of engine types and exhaust notes, a large field of disparate machines have entered for what is the third round of this year’s national series.
The field will be pursuing a special trophy this weekend, with the Sydney round victor set to receive the Des Wall Memorial Trophy. Named in honour of the category stalwart who sadly passed away in 2012, with this year’s winner to receive the cup on Sunday from Des’ son David Wall.
Peter Ingram leads the series off the back of victory in the opening round at Symmons Plains in Tasmania in February, a result that the Mazda RX-7 pilot backed up with a second-placing last time out at The Bend in early June.
His closest rival is Geoff Taunton, whose menacing IRC GT SS fell shy of beating Ingram both in Tasmania and South Australia. The Ford Mustang-esque machine is the latest version of the PACE Innovations-designed, low-budget, highperformance race package, and Taunton is chasing the title in 2024 after the machine made a victorious debut in the hands of Super2 star Cameron McLeod last year.
The field at The Bend also had a highprofile returnee to the class: Supercars star Thomas Randle. The Tickford Racing pilot proved a formidable foe for the series
regulars and made off with the round win but, with Randle focused on his ‘main game’ duties, father Dean’s elegant Saab remains parked up this weekend.
This weekend also doubles as a round of the New South Wales Sports Sedan Championship, pitting local stars against many visiting raiders from interstate. Former national champion Steve Tamasi will be there in his stunning Holden Calibra, as will Mark Duggan in the popular Aston Martin DB9, and the distincitve Fiat 124 Coupe of Brad Shiels.
The Precision National Sports Sedan Series are on track on all three days at Sydney Motorsport Park, beginning with a pair of practice sessions and qualifying on Friday, followed by a pair of 20-minute sprints on Saturday and another on Sunday morning. ■
PRECISION NATIONAL SPORTS SEDAN SERIES, ROUND
PANASONIC AIR CONDITIONING
SYDNEY SUPERNIGHT
SYDNEY
TOILET
ACCESSIBLE TOILET
PARENTS ROOM
FIRST AID
FOOD BAR
PARKING
INFORMATION SERVICES i
BIG SCREEN
OFFICIAL MERCH STALL
MERCHANDISE
TICKET GATES G
ACCREDITATION SERVICES A
OFFICIALS ACCREDITATION C
OFFICIALS SIGN ON O
FREE PUBLIC SHUTTLE STOP
FREE PUBLIC SHUTTLE
BLACKTOWN BUS SHUTTLE
HELIPAD PONTOON H
MEDIA CENTRE
TV COMPOUND
SUPERCARS PADDOCK
TAXI/UBER DROP ZONE
LIFT
VIEWING MOUND
TRACKSIDE PARKING
PEDESTRIAN TUNNEL ACCESS TO INSIDE TRACK
RESERVED & UNRESERVED GRANDSTAND
VISITORS CENTRE
ARDC TUNNEL
SPORTS LOUNGE/PIT GARAGE SUITES
SUPERCARS PADDOCK CLUB
PETER BROCK DRIVE
OFFICIALS OF THE EVENT
NATIONAL SPORTING AUTHORITY
Motorsport Australia
PROMOTER / ORGANISER
Supercars Australia Pty Ltd
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Phil Shaw, Nicole Dickinson, Kaye Callander, Kimberly Hughes
SUPERCARS OFFICIALS
VCS STEWARDS
Matt Selley, Bradley Tubb, John Leahy
VCS RACE DIRECTOR
James Taylor
VCS DEPUTY RACE DIRECTORS
David Mori, David Stuart
CLERK OF THE COURSE
Kaye Callander
SECRETARY OF THE EVENT
Kimberly Hughes
MEDICAL DELEGATE
Dr Carl Le
HEAD OF MOTORSPORT
Tim Edwards
STARTER
James Delzoppo
DRIVING STANDARDS ADVISOR
Craig Baird
TIMING CO-ORDINATOR
Ian Leech
RECOVERY CO-ORDINATOR
Alistair Walker
VOLUNTEERS
Jordan Abbott
Terry Abbott
Youssef Abboud
Kathleen Allen-Edwards
Carla Andrews
Carol Armstrong
Rebecca Armstrong
John Arnold
Matthew Ashby
Suzannah Ashby
Nathan Ashworth
Peter Ashworth
Grant Atkin
Ausind Austin
Kerry Baker
Peter Baker
Allan Banks
Graham Banks
Ben Barford-Morel
Daniel Barletta
Nathan Bartlett-Jobson
Deanne Batger
Andrew Beattie
Cheree Beattie
Glenn Beaumaris
Steven Becker
David Bell
Aaron Bennett
Loren Bennett
Kelvin Berry
Sean Best
Ian Bigg
Afiq Bin Abdul Rashid
Alan Bishop
Raelene Blacklock
Rodney Bloomfield
Josh Boehm
Adrian Bond
Jamie Boulos
Jessica Bourke
Steven Bray
Alectra Brew
SAFETY CAR DRIVER
Jason Routley
SAFETY CAR COMMUNICATOR
Jacqueline Devereaux
MEDIA MANAGER
Paul Glover
SUPPORT EVENT OFFICIALS
SUPPORT CATEGORY STEWARDS
Ian Bigg, Matthew Halpin, Glenn Pincott
DEPUTY CLERK OF THE COURSE
Michael Hancock
DEPUTY SECRETARY OF THE EVENT
Janelle Orrock
ASSISTANT CLERKS OF THE COURSE
Steve Preece, Owen Smith, Vince Morgan, Joanne Hodge
EMERGENCY COORDINATOR
Loren Bennett
CHIEF OF COMMUNICATIONS
Cheree Beattie
CHIEF OBSERVER
Peter Durkin
COMMUNICATORS
Melanie Goh, Phil Revill, Lousie Smith, Seaton Wilson
CHIEF TIMEKEEPER
David Douglas
COURSE MARSHAL
Paul Howlett
SUPPORT SAFETY CAR DRIVER
Alan Grix
SUPPORT SAFETY CAR OBSERVER
Jacqueline Devereaux
Seigmund Jacob Dollolasa
David Douglas
Sandy Brew
Scott Brisbane
Mathew Brody
Syd Brooksby
John Browett
Mitchell Brunton
Jamie Budd
Holly Bunyan
Kaye Callander
Terry Carter
Kathy Cassidy
Zac Casson
Yeraldine Castiblanco Urrego
Paulo Victor Cavalcanti
Nate Channell
Angela Chen
Melanie Cherniayeff
Steven Cherniayeff
Abbey Christensen
Theodore Clark
Liam Clarke
Michelle Clewett
Chook Connolly
James Cook
Vicki Cooke
Richard Cormick
Donald Corney
Jenny Cowan
Brette Creighton
Mark Crockett
Kevin Crompton
Graeme Crowden
Peita Cummings
Guido Currinckx
John Darcy
Kristy Day
Oscar De Paoli
Paul Delaney
Jacqueline Devereaux
Diana Dimmock
Steven Dimmock
Steven Dixon
Maureen Durkin
Peter Durkin
Kevin Elgood
Craig Eppelstun
Kate Eppelstun
Jasmine Evans
Greg Fereday
James Finley
Alan Firth
Tayla Flannery
Bailey Foord
Saul Forster
Amber Foster
Luke Franks
Scott Fuller
Caitlin Gale
Cheyenne Galway-Quinn
John Garay
Scott Geers
Laura Gibbons
Peter Gibbons
Tegan-Lee
Goodfellow
Gottaas
Griffiths
Grix
Groves
Guard
Mark Hendrie
Paul Hendrie
Anthony Henry
Jayden Hodge
Joanne Hodge
Michael Hodges
Greg Holden
Paul Howlett
Xing Huang
Kimberly Hughes
Kynan Humphreys
David Hunter
Peter Hush
Peter Huxley
Owen Insley
Sandra James
Warrick Javurek
Scott Jenkins
Stan Jodeikin
Belinda
Tamara Lancaster
Gary Lau
Linda Lawrence
John Leahy
Brad Lee
David Lee
Carla Liesac
Derek Linden
Neville Ling
Steve Lisk
Breanna Little
John Lougheed
Leon Lovett
Adam Luczak
Luke Lynch
Paul Lysaght
William Maarseveen
Brian Madigan
Steven Magnussen
Tammy Mansfield
Tony Martin
Vivienne Mayer
Stuart McCash
Ian McDonald
Paul McInerney
Troy McIntyre
Peter McKinnon
Sean McKone Matthew McNicol Toby Meagher Brian Means Gary Medcalf Veron Mehta Stacey Mellor Cianna
