2022 Supercars and Supports

[Everso Biggyballies]

Well, the 2021 season is done now bar the Bathurst 1000 which has its own thread, so with news starting to break about the 2022 season, it is time for a new thread to avoid confusion.

Nothing major in the way of new news but to remind you all the originally planned mid year introduction of the new Gen 3 concept has now thankfully been put off until 2023. The mid year change was never going to work given the timelines involved and the fact that on a fixed date all the current cars would become obsolete and ineligible to compete in the series, with the whole field needing to be replaced simultaneously. All compounded by the fact the final specifications have yet to be finalised.... paddle shift v stickshift being the main one. Develoment engines are being finalised from a spec pov, and prototype bodyshae and construction are due to be unveiled I believe at Bathurst. I think that maybe they have given each a shakedown run. Anyway, that is all now 2023 so irrelevant here. Plus we have a Gen 3 to follow that news in.

So what do we know about 2022?

The drivers line up is all but complete, with just the Grove Racing seat to be vacated by Heimgartner to be confirmed. That of course is subject to a Supercars licence dispensation being granted to Matthew Payne. Of course Kelly Racing will no longer feature in any form on the grid next year now that the team formerly known as Kelly Grove Racing now becoming Grove Racing, Grove having bought out the Kelly family entirely.
2022 Repco Supercars Championship grid so far (as of October 27, 2021)

Red Bull Ampol Racing
Broc Feeney
Shane van Gisbergen

Shell V-Power Racing Team
Anton De Pasquale
Will Davison

Tickford Racing
Cameron Waters
James Courtney
Thomas Randle
Jake Kostecki

Walkinshaw Andretti United
Chaz Mostert
Nick Percat

Brad Jones Racing
Andre Heimgartner
Bryce Fullwood
Jack Smith
Macauley Jones

Grove Racing
David Reynolds
TBA (**.Matt Payne - subject to Superlicence dispensation **)

Team 18
Mark Winterbottom
Scott Pye

Erebus Motorsport
Will Brown
Brodie Kostecki

Blanchard Racing Team
Tim Slade

Team Sydney
Garry Jacobson
Fabian Coulthard

Matt Stone Racing
Jack Le Brocq
Todd Hazelwood

That will do for an intro to the season.

[Everso Biggyballies]

We have some 2022 news......

Boost Mobile to back both Erebus entries in 2022 in naming rights deal

Both Erebus Motorsport entries will be backed by Boost Mobile in the 2022 Championship, it has been confirmed.

The team will be known as Boost Mobile Racing powered by Erebus


Erebus had Boost logos on Brodie Kostecki's car this year, whilst Brown's car has had a rotating short term backers sort of thing.

Good luck to them. I have tried hard not to like Peter Adderton (Boost owner) for his outspoken rants, not to mention walking away from their GRM contract which led to GRM quitting Supercars. But he keeps pouring cash into Aussie motorsport, with a focus on helping young drivers, so its hard to bear grudges.

On top of that, many (myself included,) wrote Erebus off for this year following the last minute exodus of David Reynolds, along with the Penrite money / stickers that adorned both cars last year..... that led to a lot of key engineering staff also bailing out. Plus taking on two rookie drivers.

It all added up to a monster "what could possibly go wrong" scenario. To their credit they have gone from down and outs with little backing and hope to becoming race and podium winners with both cars showing genuine pace and consistency. To me the Team performance of the year, particularly in the second half.

Yeah, so good luck to the team and I wish them luck. I have always liked them and their ways from the day they arrived with plans to run Mercedes.... Betty Klimenko, although she has recently taken a low profile role (I think to do with her anti vax beliefs) has been a breath of fresh air over the years, in a world of Roland Danes and Tim Edwards.

[Everso Biggyballies]

2022 Supercars calendar revealed

The 2022 Supercars Championship will take in 13 rounds from March to November.

Notably, the category is set to return to Newcastle, Albert Park, Perth, Winton, Auckland, and the Gold Coast after being omitted in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


2022 Repco Supercars Championship calendar:

Rnd Date Event
1 March 4-6 Repco Newcastle 500, Newcastle Street Circuit, NSW
2 March 26-27 Tasmania SuperSprint, Symmons Plains International Raceway, TAS
3 April 7-10 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, VIC
4 April 30-May 1 Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight, Wanneroo Raceway, WA
5 May 21-22 Winton SuperSprint, Winton Motor Raceway, VIC
6 June 18-19 Merlin Darwin Triple Crown, Hidden Valley Raceway, NT
7 July 8-10 NTI Townsville 500, Reid Park Street Circuit, QLD
8 July 30-31 TBC
9 August 19-21 Penrite Sandown SuperSprint, Sandown International Motor Raceway, VIC
10 September 10-11 ITM Auckland SuperSprint, Pukekohe Park Raceway, NZ
11 October 6-9 Repco Bathurst 1000, Mount Panorama, NSW
12 October 28-30 Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, QLD
13 November 18-20 Beaurepaires Sydney Super600, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW

The Supercars Championship feeder Super2 Series will feature at the Newcastle 500, Perth SuperNight, Townsville 500, Sandown SuperSprint, Bathurst 1000 and Sydney Super600.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Castrol confirm full time return for 2022 withthe #55 Randle drivenTickford entry

Castrol last year were MOA after the sudden disaearance of the Kelly driven Castrol car, relaced by Penrite and David Reynolds, so good to see a Castrol livery back on the grid again.

[Everso Biggyballies]

SVG chooses to run #97 rather than #1 for 2022.

As series champion SVG has the option to run #1 but he has confirmed he will be running his familiar #97.

The #97 is meaningful to SVG as when he first started racing in NZ he always ran #97. When he first came to Aus and joined SC in 2007 he initially had to run #021.... he was driving for Team Kiwi and it was a number which the team ran courtesy of its long association with Vodafone New Zealand, whose phone numbers began with an 021 prefix.

When he joined SBR he took over their #9 entry but then when he left SBR and joined Tekno in 2013 he reverted to his preferred #97, keeping that number there and right through his time with RBR, overlooking the #1 option again when he won his first title. Of course he ran the #888 at this year's Bathurst as a one-off in a mark of respect to outgoing T888 Team Principal Roland Dane who stepped down from that role after Bathurst.

Actually the last time #1 was used was Whincup in 2018 as Scotty Mac always kept running the iconic DJR #17 through his Championship wins.... that number used by Dick Johnson throughout his career and has been continuously used by the team since.

As for the other RBR car for Broc Feeney the team are yet to decide whether Feeney will run the #88 used by Whincup, or use the #888 number made famous and associated mainly with Craig Lowndes.. (Feeney used the #888 in his Championship winning T888 backed / run Super 2 campaign this year.)

[Everso Biggyballies]

So, with the news that Lee Holdswork has joined the Grove Racing team in place of Heimgartner as reported in the 2021 thread, we can now confirm the 2022 line up:


2022 Supercars Championship grid

Red Bull Ampol Racing
Broc Feeney (arrives from Super2)
Shane van Gisbergen (unchanged)

Shell V-Power Racing Team
Anton De Pasquale (unchanged)
Will Davison (unchanged)

Tickford Racing
Cameron Waters (unchanged)
James Courtney (unchanged)
Thomas Randle (promoted from Tickford co-drive)
Jake Kostecki (arrives from Matt Stone Racing)

Walkinshaw Andretti United
Chaz Mostert (unchanged)
Nick Percat (arrives from Brad Jones Racing)

Brad Jones Racing
Andre Heimgartner (arrives from Kelly Grove Racing Racing)
Bryce Fullwood (arrives from Walkinshaw Andretti United)
Jack Smith (unchanged)
Macauley Jones (unchanged)

Grove Racing
David Reynolds (unchanged)
Lee Holdsworth (arrives from Walkinshaw Andretti United co-drive)

Team 18
Mark Winterbottom (unchanged)
Scott Pye (unchanged)

Erebus Motorsport
Will Brown (unchanged)
Brodie Kostecki (unchanged)

Blanchard Racing Team
Tim Slade (unchanged)

Team Sydney
Garry Jacobson (unchanged)
Fabian Coulthard (unchanged)

Matt Stone Racing
Jack Le Brocq (arrives from Tickford Racing)
Todd Hazelwood (arrives from Brad Jones Racing)

[Everso Biggyballies]

#7 to be retired and Holdsworth to use #10

Just a bit of nothing much but Grove Racing seem to be removing as much of the Kelly influences or history from the now Grove Racing Team and creating their own identity..... they are 'retiring' the ex Kelly #7 as used by Rick Kelly prior to Heimgartner. With David Reynolds to retain the #26, it means both Rick and Todd Kelly’s numbers, #15 and #7 respectively, have effectively been retired.

Grove Racing will introduce one of its favoured numbers to Supercars next year, with Lee Holdsworth to wear the #10.
(The #4 and #10 are the numbers most deeply associated with Grove Racing, however #4 is already in SC use with Jack Smith)

[Vassago]

So what happens with Payne? Does he have any clear path to full-time V8s in the future?

[Everso Biggyballies]

So what happens with Payne? Does he have any clear path to full-time V8s in the future?

He is doing a year full time in Super 2 in an entry run by Grove using one of their old Kelly Nissans they now own .... the same car as he used at the year end Super 2 events he did (Eastern Creek and Bathurst.)
I imagine Holdsworth's deal is only one year at this stage with the likleyhood Payne will manage to get the necessary suoerlicence points in his year in Super 2 to be able to jump into the main game in place of Holdsworth for 2023.

[Everso Biggyballies]

So what happens with Payne? Does he have any clear path to full-time V8s in the future?

He is doing a year full time in Super 2 in an entry run by Grove using one of their old Kelly Nissans they now own .... the same car as he used at the year end Super 2 events he did (Eastern Creek and Bathurst.)
I imagine Holdsworth's deal is only one year at this stage with the likleyhood Payne will manage to get the necessary suoerlicence points in his year in Super 2 to be able to jump into the main game in place of Holdsworth for 2023.

Some early indications from Steven Grove today suggest that Matt Payne is a given for 2023 in the main game. What is interesting is that with Holdsworth on a one year deal, and Reynolds entering into his final year of a 2 year contract with the team, both are in effect likely to be playing off against each other for the seat alongside Payne....

With Matt Payne all but assured a 2023 seat, the intra-team stakes will be high next year as Holdsworth returns from oblivion to replace Andre Heimgartner. It seems the second seat for 2023 will be a shootout between Reynolds and Holdsworth.

To take that a stage further I sort of see that Grove is less than impressed with Reynolds. His results this year have been fairly ordinary, and for sure the anti vax stance that put Reynolds out of action for a couple of events Im sure did his overall employability a power of no good, be it at Grove or elsewhere. Im all for personal choices over most things but when Reynolds turns up to the first race with Vax obligations underlined, with a dodgy exemption says to me "Lack of commitment".... bordering on taking the piss. Im sure his stock value is far less than it was 12 or 18 months ago. This year he has been a major disappointment on and off track. [/Reynolds rant]

Team co-owner Brenton Grove is keen to see Reynolds, 36, and Holdsworth, 38, push each other to new heights, with the potential carrot of a longer-term future on offer.

But he’s mindful of not letting any such situation spiral out of hand.

“For sure at the moment it’s a one-year deal [for Holdsworth], and that’s just something that we all thought was best,’ Grove said

“Matt will be in the car the year after, so I don’t know what happens beyond here.

“Both drivers [Reynolds and Holdsworth] will be out of contract at the end of next year, so for sure, always healthy competition is great, but we’re not playing each driver off.

“It just so happens that both contracts are up at the end of the year.”

Asked if that confirmed Payne, who’ll contest the full 2022 Dunlop Super2 Series, was all but assured of a main game promotion for the following season, Grove answered in the affirmative.

Full article: https://www.speedcafe.com/2021/12/18/gr ... oldsworth/

[Everso Biggyballies]

I posted this in the youtube section as well, but thought it appropriate to be in this section as well for those that might not venture into the video area of the forum.....

Supercar goes Speedway | Cam Waters tackles Warrnambool Speedway in a V8 Supercar!

A long way from Mount Panorama, Cam Waters takes the Monster Energy Mustang for a spin on another historic Aussie racetrack: Premier Speedway at Warrnambool.

For info Cam does a bit of Sprint Car racing on the Speedways when he gets time off from the Supercars schedule.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Will Davison becomes the first V8 driver to go down with Covid.
Will Davison and Riana Crehan have tested positive for COVID-19, the latter has revealed.

Crehan took to Instagram to post that she and Supercar driver husband Davison have joined the growing number of Australians to have become infected with the coronavirus, along with motorcyclist Brent George.

However, the trio are vaccinated, something for which the former nurse and now television presenter is “incredibly grateful”.

Crehan’s post began, “We have been a bit quiet this year. Unfortunately all 3 of us are Positive to Covid.

“Feeling incredibly grateful to be vaccinated, live where we live and have access to online shopping!

“Thinking of so many who are currently experiencing what we are, those on the frontline, those in hospital, those sadly suffering serious symptoms.

“It’s a scary, frustrating, difficult time and we are just trying to do the best we can. Much love, look forward to seeing the other side of this.”

Crehan’s revelation comes after organisers of the New Year’s Thunder chose to postpone the drag racing event which would have taken place this Friday and Saturday at Ipswich’s Willowbank Raceway.

They cited the rising number of COVID-19 infections among competitors as the main reason for the decision, with the 400 Thunder event to be rescheduled for an as yet otherwise unspecified date in February.

Davison is the first Supercars driver confirmed to have contracted the virus, although Walkinshaw Andretti United team owner Ryan Walkinshaw revealed last year he was a case.

They certainly wont be the last, with over 35000 new cases in NSW, 17600 in Vic and Queensland just shy of 7000. Even Tasmania and Northern Territory are both near 1000 . Those numbers are just YESTERDAY, not this week. That is a National figure of near as dammit 65000 when you add in South and West Australia

If it continues like this the calendar will be impacted and one has to worry about other events like the Bathurst 12 hour, set to run next month.

[theracer120]

Team Sydney is dead according to Speedcafe, it's been sold to drag racer Peter Xiberras who apparently previously owned one of their cars and sponsored the team.

Team Sydney has officially changed hands, with PremiAir Hire managing director Peter Xiberras yesterday sealing the deal to purchase the Supercars squad from the Webb family.

Rumours had long circulated around a possible sale of the team formerly known as Tekno Autosports, although Jonathon Webb did his level best to quell such speculation in November.

But the deal is now done, with Xiberras set to reinvigorate, refresh and revive the team.

PremiAir Racing will represent a complete clean slate, the team no longer being based in Sydney.

from here: https://www.speedcafe.com/2022/01/13/de ... ir-racing/

There isn't any news on whether Coulthard or Jacobson will be staying at the team. Coulthard posted on the FB comments of the article that he wonders where the deal will leave him and that the article was how he found out about the sale, which is pretty messed up. It also came out today that Geoff Slater (one of the teams' previous engineers) is going to WAU to engineer for Nick Percat.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Well that one of Team Sydney being for sale has been around since long before Christmas and Jono Webb has always denied it.
Interesting that they will be based in either Melbourne or Brisbane but definitely not Sydney. I thought the Webbs had pocketed a big wad of NSW Govt money to relocate the team in Sydney and call it Team Sydney. Something about the Webbs I have never liked and for Fabs to find out about it through the Speedcafe article rather than a call from Webb when it all looked to be set is pretty disgusting..

As for Peter Xiberras I think his input /ownership will be great. He has money, and in fact his business (PremiAir) has always been the sponsor of his dragsters . Video below

https://www.facebook.com/PremiAirRacing ... 254802067/
, again relating to his drag team.
A bit about PremiAir and their business

Our major sponsor is our own firm, PremiAir Hire. Carmen and I started the company in an old milking shed on my dad’s farm at Richmond, NSW, back in 1994; at first we just serviced air compressors, but we grew and diversified into hiring out generators and lighting towers. PremiAir now has a dozen branches in four states, and employs 150 people.

I know a V8 SC two car team is going to be a bit more of an involvement and will be a bit more budget munching than a Dragster doing half a dozen meetings a year, but I am sure the team will be in a better place than it was under the Webbs. Good riddance to them. Done nothing of note since the SVG days.

I wish the new team all the best and it can only be an improvement over the shambles of a set up Webb ran. They always seemed to run from disaster to disaster with a few highlights in between.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Im not sure if this is a render or real.... if it was a Render I cant see it would have Sydney in the rear window.

Interesting to see Jacobson's name is on the window..... although Xiberras is very vague / evasive about drivers.

One thing now clear gven what Xiberras has said is that this deal talk has been going on for a long time, certainly well before Bathurst, indeed for it to have put up for Supercars approval in December....

Motorsport.com are also saying:

.....the team has indeed changed hands, successful drag racer and businessman Xiberras the new owner of Team Sydney.

Motorsport.com understands the deal was put to the Supercars Board as early as December but has only now been finalised.

The team will re-branded to PremiAir Racing and will effectively be built from the ground up with a new base in either Queensland or Victoria, depending on where the majority of new staff come from.

"Jonathon and I have been talking for some time," Xiberras told Motorsport.com.

"To be up front, we didn't get close until Bathurst. We've been in negotiations since then. It's a big deal, a lot to be considered, but long story short, late last week we all agreed to make it happen.

"There were discussions about delaying it into this year, or whether we do a fresh start with Gen3. Those options were on the table.

"But for us, while we might be coming in at the wrong time, we're going to use this as a learning year. There's a lot to learn, a lot of mistakes to make, and this will be a good year to do that.

"And then when Gen3 comes along we'll be competitive."

The deal casts doubt over the current driver line-up of Fabian Coulthard and Garry Jacobson, with no firm guarantees either will stay as the team changes hands.

"I can't comment too much," said Xiberras when asked about drivers.

"There's a lot going on in a short time. But I'm confident we'll line up, look half decent and won't embarrass ourselves at the first meeting."

https://www.motorsport.com/v8supercars/ ... d/7229163/