MOTORSPORT: All change in Supercars

Opportunity beckons in the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship, with the next generation of racers set to fill the void left by the departure of the sport’s biggest names, as the season kicks off this weekend with the Thrifty Bathurst 500.

Three-time champion Shane van Gisbergen has packed his bags to take on the world of NASCAR, where he yesterday finished 12th on debut in the second-tier Xfinity Series at Daytona, while reigning champion Brodie Kostecki remains on the sidelines, mired in the ongoing saga involving Erebus Motorsport.

Garaged in the opening pit stall at Bathurst, the Erebus equipe will be under the microscope, with the off-season turmoil seeing their primary backers Coca-Cola, Shaw and Partners, plus Southern Cross Truck Rentals, depart the squad.

Jack Le Brocq was earlier announced as the replacement for Will Brown, who signed with Red Bull Ampol Racing to replace van Gisbergen, while Todd Hazelwood has been elevated from endurance co-driver to fill Kostecki’s vacant seat, for round one at least.

Alongside Brown in the Triple Eight Race Engineering stable is perhaps one of the title favourites, Broc Feeney, with the 21-year-old looking to capitalise on the form that has seen him win at six different venues to date, including the Adelaide street circuit, Albert Park and the Sandown 500, where he paired with team leader Jamie Whincup to claim the opening enduro of 2023.

Providing that the extensive off-season parity work has paid dividends, the team most likely to step up could be the freshly focused Tickford Racing squad, which has pared back to two Ford Mustangs for the new year.

After winning the opening race of the 2023 season by virtue of Triple Eight’s double disqualification in Newcastle, Waters finished the year with a wet sail, winning races on the Gold Coast and at Adelaide following a post-Bathurst parity adjustment.

Alongside him will be Thomas Randle, who finished last season with four late podiums in a warning shot to the opposition.

Elsewhere on the grid, there is little continuity except for at Shell V-Power Racing with Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison, plus at PremiAir Nulon Racing with James Golding and Tim Slade.

Walkinshaw Andretti United has taken a plunge into rookie talent for the seat vacated by Nick Percat, with 20-year-old Ryan Wood stepping up to the main game after claiming five wins from his maiden Super2 campaign.

Percat, meanwhile, has found a new home at Matt Stone Racing alongside Cameron Hill, while at Penrite Racing, Richie Stanaway will make a sensational full-time comeback after claiming victory in last year’s Bathurst 1000 alongside van Gisbergen.

Stanaway will line up alongside fellow Kiwi Matthew Payne, who won the final race of the 2023 season in Adelaide.

Another New Zealander to land a drive is rookie Jaxon Evans, who brings an impressive international resume to the Brad Jones Racing seat left open after the retirement of Jack Smith.

David Reynolds’ tour of the Supercars paddock has seen him land at Team 18 alongside Mark Winterbottom, while the Blanchard Racing Team has expanded to two entries, with former champion James Courtney to be partnered by Aaron Love, the third main game graduate in the field.

The major changes on the calendar see the Newcastle street circuit benched in favour of twin 250km races at Mount Panorama, with The Bend parked for a season to pave the way for a return to New Zealand and the regional Taupo Motorsport Park.

This weekend in Bathurst, twin practice sessions on Friday will be followed by qualifying, the top 10 shootout and a 250km race on both Saturday and Sunday.

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