MOTORSPORT: Impressive Supercars debut for Kelly Jr

The next generation of Supercars talent hit the track at Sandown Raceway on the weekend, when Mason Kelly took to the wheel of his father Todd’s last race car – the carsales-backed Nissan Altima – and impressed as a part of the National Sports Sedan field.

The class was a special guest at the 30th annual Historic Sandown meet, with the category attracting some of the fastest cars from across the country.

Starting rear of grid for the opening two heats, Kelly showed his potential in the finale, where he came through to finish in fifth, setting the third-fastest lap of the race.

“It’s a bit stressful for me, I’ve never been more stressed than having Mason in the carsales car driving around with the limited experience he’s got, but it’s a good, no-pressure category for him just to get a feel for what a Supercar is like,” said Todd.

“The only reason I’ve put him in it is that even though he is 17, he’s a pretty sensible young kid and he tries to do all of the work on the car himself in between his schoolwork – he knows the car back to front, and he puts a lot of effort in.

“Normally by the time you get to this point of your career, you’ve done Formula Ford and a few other categories, but he’s gone straight from a Hyundai Excel into the MARC Car and now the Supercar, so he’s still trying to figure out his heel and toe and things like that.”

Adding to the occasion, it was a return to the track for the Altima that Todd used in his final Supercars season of 2017, with its panels preserved as the chassis went on to be used by Andre Heimgartner to the end of 2019.

Following the successful debut, the Kelly family have options on the table regarding the next steps in Mason’s motorsport journey.

At the end of the season, Kelly Racing will retain control of the three Penrite-backed Ford Mustangs as campaigned by Grove Racing this year, Todd and Rick retain their last Nissan Altimas, while Matt Payne’s current Super2 Altima is owned by Sports Sedan competitor Stuart Eustice, with the remaining Altimas having been campaigned by MW Motorsport to considerable Super2 success.

Kelly Racing also retains the infrastructure to run a race team, with their transporter having been loaned out to Supercars this year for use with their Gen3 testing program.

“We kind of haven’t really discussed [Mason’s future], it’s just been one step at a time,” said Todd.

“It’s easy for us to stick him in one of these things, because we’ve got all of the gear, but it’s all a bit too soon for where he’s at.

“It’s a pretty big thing to commit to for a full season [of Super2 or Super3], and we’d have to run a couple of other cars as well, which you have to do if you are doing it properly, so I’m not sure what we’ll end up doing.

“I’d be happy just to do laid-back stuff like this; it’s good fun, and a lot more cost-effective.

“It’s good to have a bit of fun without all of the pressure that comes with Supercars.”

Elsewhere, Kelly Racing has been busy lately building a Ford Ranger Raptor to take on the famed Baja 1000 off-road race.

Produced in a collaboration between Ford Performance, engine builder Herrod Performance and off-road accessory specialists ARB, the car will be utilised by American squad Lovell Racing.

“Basically it was a full Supercar build inside a Raptor, and the production class that it runs in means that we didn’t have to touch the suspension or any of that sort of stuff,” said Todd.

“I was blown away by how they come out from the factory. We probably couldn’t have done much improvement at all, even if we wanted to. It’s a really tough truck.

“Hopefully it goes really well. We’ve done a fair bit of testing here with it back at Mildura and then they’ve done something like 1000 miles with it in America. It’s done stacks and it hasn’t really had any issues at all.

“It will all come down to the drivers if they have any issues, and it’s a really tough event, so hopefully we can get it back to Australia in one piece.”

The Repco Supercars Championship concludes at the VALO Adelaide 500 over December 2-4.

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