MOTORSPORT: GRM tells Volvo let us race

Supercars team Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM) has officially made a request to Volvo to “stall” its decision to pull-out of Australia's top car racing category at the end of 2016, arguing that the company's announcement in May does not give the team enough time to make alternative arrangements for the 2017 championship.

The request to extend the deal to race the Volvo S60 for an additional year was made via the brand’s local office, Volvo Cars Australia (VCA), and is now in the hands of head office in Sweden.

GRM says it does not expect an answer until after the traditional European mid-summer break is completed in mid-August.

“We have asked that they [Volvo] reconsider its decision to exit at the end of the current season on the basis that the timeframe given to us is inadequate to source another manufacturer to carry on our business that has been operating since 1963,” Barry Rogers, the team's 2IC and son of founder Garry Rogers told motoring.com.au.

“I am confident that a global company the size of Volvo would not purposely go out and destroy such an iconic company as dad’s race team.

“We have asked that Volvo simply stall the exit from Supercars to the end of the 2017 season.”

Volvo entered the Supercars category – then V8 Supercars – in 2014 with GRM and has enjoyed significant success via the team’s lead driver Scott McLaughlin, who has won seven championship races for the brand and currently runs fifth in the drivers’ title.

Despite strong expectations from within the category, Volvo decided not to renew its deal with GRM, making the shock announcement via its Polestar performance division immediately after McLaughlin had been to Sweden to race a factory Volvo in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship. VCA chief Kevin McCann was also meant to make the trip but had to withdraw at the last minute.

Subsequently McLaughlin, who is rated as the best young talent in the championship, decided to switch teams to DJR Team Penske from 2017, citing Volvo’s pull-out as an important driver in that decision. GRM is confident it had a strong chance of retaining the 23-year old Kiwi if Volvo had stayed in.

Clearly, company politics played a significant part in the decision, with Volvo’s racing partner and developer of the Supercar S60’s V8 engine, Cyan Racing, making it explicitly clear that all cars and engines would have to be returned to Sweden at the end of the season. Despite that both Garry and Barry Rogers have insisted that GRM intends to race the Volvos again in 2017. The team has raced Holden Commodore VFs in the current Gen 2 era, but has since sold those cars.

There are said to be conflicting interpretations of just what Cyan can claim as its property. No-one is disputing the ownership of the engines is Swedish, but the S60 chassis are based on a control Supercars spaceframe and the body panels are specifically sized to fit that wheelbase while retaining a similar look to the production car. One possible scenario is that GRM wins the right through legal means to retain the chassis and power them with another engine, such as a Chevrolet pushrod V8. This is permitted under Supercars rules.

The pull-out has also raised the ire of Volvo’s Australian dealer body, which has strongly backed the three-year involvement in racing and the slick activation program that accompanied it. A Volvo dealer team has been mooted as a potential solution for 2017.

While all this could become very messy and potentially end up in court, the initial request to Volvo from GRM is clearly an attempt to find a peaceful short-term compromise.

“The fact is the cars exist, the engines exist, the Volvo dealers of Australia want to keep doing it,” Barry Rogers said.

“Business is tough but global companies certainly have a responsibility to act reasonably and fairly with those that they choose to be involved with.”

McCann told motoring.com.au: “I am not aware of any consideration being given to changing Volvo’s position regarding racing in 2017.

“We can only say that the decision not to race in V8SC [sic] is final and clear.”