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I think there's still a spot open at Team Sydney but I think he probably won't have the funding for that.
Or the other way round this is what we have in place at the moment, with the two cars missing drivers at this stage highlighted.theracer120 wrote: ↑3 years ago
This only leaves Rick Kelly's old car (almost certainly going to be Reynolds' new car) and the second Team Sydney car to be confirmed.
Predictably Holdsworth has landed a gig in Aussie TCR...theracer120 wrote: ↑3 years ago https://www.speedcafe.com/2021/01/07/ti ... departure/
Lee Holdsworth is out of the series as Tickford has effectively lost a car due to REC movements. A shame given he'd had a resurgence in recent years and he seems like one of the more likeable people in the series. This only leaves Rick Kelly's old car (almost certainly going to be Reynolds' new car) and the second Team Sydney car to be confirmed.
“We are delighted to confirm we will return to Sandown in 2021,” Supercars CEO Sean Seamer said.
“Few circuits demonstrate our history better than Sandown.
“With regards to the grand prix, we will assess the opportunity closer to the time.
“Right now our focus is on the pre-season and first few rounds of the upcoming 2021 Supercars season.
“We’d like to extend our thanks to the Victorian Racing Club for their support and flexibility.”
Ahead of the 2021 calendar being announced, Seamer had stated that Supercars would not compete in exhibition races.
The revised Australian Grand Prix weekend of November 18-21 would see the event fall between Supercars’ appearances in New Zealand (November 6-7) and Gold Coast (December 3-5).
Cars are set to traverse the Tasman by sea, with freight landing in Melbourne on the return voyage.
Just a bit more re Ludo's role in the new look DJR setup. He will continue his TD/competition Director role with responsibility as above on the Gen 3 development, but will also be taking over the role of Race Engineer on the De Pasquale car. Ludo originally joined DJRTP with responsibility and race engineer role on Scotty Macs #17 car, a role he relinquished to take on other responsibilities within the team. So he reverts to a direct responsibility to the #18 De Pasquale car, whilst McLaughlin’s 2020 engineer Richard Harris will stay on the #17 Mustang, now working with Will Davison. Coulthards engineer on the #18 last year has moved to another role within the team including working with Ludo on Gen 3 development.Everso Biggyballies wrote: ↑3 years ago
Lacroix to stay at DJR
Dick Johnson Racing’s technical guru, Ludo Lacroix, has been confirmed as staying on in 2021. Great news for the team as he is the technical guy behind the entire operation, and is widely respected as being the best tech guy in Aus. He was certainly considered a key part of the Team and Scott's success since he moved from T888 when DJR combined with Penske.
One of his key functions in 2021 will be designing and sorting the homologation of the Gen 3 Ford Mustang, with Gen 3 to be introduced for 2022. DJR remains Ford’s homologation team, meaning it, and therefore Lacroix, is charged with developing the Gen3 Mustang alongside Ford Performance.
https://www.speedcafe.com/2021/01/14/ne ... ly-racing/Kelly Racing will take on new ownership and an altered name for the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship after the Grove Group bought into the Ford squad as a major shareholder.
The team, which has competed in Supercars since 2009, will operate under the Kelly Grove Racing banner.
Grove Group executive chairman Stephen Grove and his son Brenton will attend all events alongside team principal and co-owner Todd Kelly.
Retired driver Rick Kelly remains a shareholder of the business.
Todd Kelly welcomed the new Kelly Grove Racing era and explained the need for a partner to join forces with.
“This will be our 13th year owning and running Kelly Racing,” he said.
“Over that period we’ve built and ran Holdens, designed, developed and manufactured a complete Nissan Supercar and engine, and recently converted to Ford, once again with the car build and engine development and manufacturing all completed in-house.
“I believe we’ve been extremely effective over the years to be able to design and manufacture all of our own equipment to an extremely high standard through having a great team, a supportive partner network and through a lot of hard work and dedication.
“But it’s been evident for a long time now that there are two factors that contribute to consistent on-track success; one, streamlining the team from four cars to two and the second is being able to find a way to compete with the top teams that have the firepower of multiple shareholders both locally and international.”
“To put ourselves on a level playing field it was extremely important to have a partner come into the team who is like-minded and as passionate about racing as we are, and fortunately we’ve been able to find that partner in Stephen Grove.
“The Grove Group, like most of our partners, is an extremely successful Australian-owned business which uses almost entirely Australian-made products which is important to Rick and myself.
“The Grove Group also has a vast amount of experience in motorsport with their Porsche and GT programs which will be a huge asset to the team.
“Along with an announcement in the coming days on our new driver and sponsor line-up for this year, I believe this new partnership will set us up for our most successful year yet.”
With Andre Heimgartner already confirmed to stay on with the squad for a fourth season, 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner David Reynolds is widely rumoured to be announced as his teammate.
Stephen Grove declared his excitement at the new venture, identifying Kelly Racing as the “right fit for our business given the synergies in philosophy between Kelly Racing and the Grove Group”.
Ford Australia and New Zealand boss Andrew Birkic added: “This is exciting news and will build on the strong and respected motorsport foundation that Kelly Racing have built up over the past 13 years to take the team to the next level.
“We look forward to continuing our support for the team and welcome Stephen and Brenton to the fold, and look forward to Kelly Grove Racing building on their on-track success this year.”
The Grove Group is a portfolio of businesses operating across the manufacturing, hire, private investment, property development and hospitality industries.
Both Stephen and Brenton Grove have lengthy racing backgrounds, particularly in the Porsche and GT spheres.
Yeah David has always been one of my favourites in the Supercars field.... always gives his all, and I guess I just like seeing a bit of a larrikin on the grid, someone who is always likely to do or say something 'unusual'.Cheeveer wrote: ↑3 years ago Nice about Reynolds. Can he finally do good over an entire year, or will be labelled as a Bathurst specialist in the future? He's great there, but he needs to be great everywhere.
(when he drove 700km but passed out while leading with just a few laps to go the other year is one of my favourite racing moments in recent years. Heroic.)