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Garry The Guru
THE END OF OUR SUPERCARS ERA
End For The Altima
Kelly Racing’s switch from Nissan Altimas to Ford Mustangs in 2020 brings to an end the Altima’s seven-season stint in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.
Decade Dave
David Reynolds is known as the larrikin of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, but there’s much more to the man with a 10-year deal locking him in with Erebus Motorsport until he’s 44 years of age.
Beyond The Wheel
GEARING UP FOR EXPANSION
The Record Breaker
DJR Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin has rewritten the Australian Touring Car Championship/Virgin Australia Supercars Championship record books in 2019. This is the story of his remarkable season and what comes next.
Pony Up!
After seven seasons with the Nissan Altima, Kelly Racing switches to Ford Mustangs and downsizes to two cars in 2020. Co-owner and driver Rick Kelly reflects on the team’s time with Nissan and what awaits with Ford.
The French Connection
While the focus was on the return of Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander entering the 2019 PIRTEK Enduro Cup, it was Alexandre Prémat who won the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and helped Scott McLaughlin take his second championship win, capping a remarkable eight-year journey for the Frenchman in Supercars.
GRM's Tough Call
The biggest casualty of the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship grid shakeup is the loss of Garry Rogers Motorsport, ending a 24-year run in the category.
Getting Down
Supercars will reduce downforce on the Ford Mustang and Holden ZB Commodore for 2020 in the latest bid to improve the racing and achieve better parity between the cars.
Young Guns To Watch
The 2019 PIRTEK Enduro Cup will be a crucial test in the careers of a number up and coming drivers, thrown into the deep-end at Bathurst with the opportunity to impress in the main game. These are their stories...
Chris Pither And His Long Battle For A Regular Drive In Supercars
It’s been a long road back for Kiwi Chris Pither after a serious practice crash at Bathurst in 2008 put his career on hold. More than 10 years on, the 32-year-old is the only driver to have his name on both Dunlop Super2 Series and Australian V8 Ute Racing Series trophies. After being sidelined at the start of 2019, he’s eager to prove once again that he belongs in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.
2019 Pirtek Enduro - Dream Team
In 2019 Triple Eight Race Engineering fields what could be considered the strongest endurance driver line-up in the history Australian touring cars, with Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander joining Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen respectively with 14 Bathurst 1000s and 12 championships won in total. Lowndes and Tander share their thoughts on their return to Supercars in these exclusive interviews.
Going The Distance
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship goes into long-distance mode with the PIRTEK Enduro Cup, awarded to the combination with the most points across the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Vodafone Gold Coast 600 and Penrite Oil Sandown 500. And with no leadin endurance event ahead of the Great Race at the Mount Panorama Circuit, the test for the drivers and teams is even greater in 2019.
The Burning Questions
How will the 2019 PIRTEK Enduro Cup play out? These are the 19 questions which will be answered at the long-distance events…
Alive & Kicking
In quite an extraordinary short period of time, the now defunct Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport operation has been salvaged from cellar-dweller regulars at the end of 2017 to genuine frontrunners as 23 Red Racing in 2019. We spoke to owner Phil Munday and driver Will Davison about how they’ve achieved such a quick jump.
Australia's Motorsport Hub
The Bend Motorsport Park has set a new standard for Australian motorsport and is looking to improve as it prepares for its second Virgin Australia Supercars Championship and, from 2020, an endurance event.
2020 Vision
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship is reworking its rules with the aim of cutting costs and improving the racing heading into 2020 and beyond.
Keeping Up With The Joneses
The Joneses have been regulars in Supercars over the last two decades. And in 2019, the next generation arrived with Macauley Jones, son of team boss Brad Jones, stepping up from the Dunlop Super2 Series into the Team CoolDrive entry at Brad Jones Racing.
The Case For A Second Round At Bathurst
The second circuit set to be built adjacent to the Mount Panorama Circuit opens up the possibility of a second Supercars event at Bathurst. So, should Bathurst host a Supercars sprint round alongside the endurance classic?
Mustang Domination
The Ford Mustang Supercar, in particular the DJR Team Penske entries of Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard, have dominated the first half of the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. And despite technical changes to the car to bring it back to the pack, it’s still the one to beat.
Mature - Age Rookie
Three years after winning the Dunlop Super2 Series championship, Garry Jacobson got a long-awaited main-game chance at Kelly Racing in 2019. And despite the challenge of racing a Nissan Altima without factory support, the 27-year-old is proving he deserves his shot in the main game.
The Downforce Dilemma
The size of the wings of the Ford Mustang Supercar has been a big talking point in terms of its performance parity with the Holden ZB Commodore and Nissan Altima. But it also points to another dilemma: the heavy reliance on downforce.
Underdogs Of 2019
Despite losing factory funding from Nissan heading into 2019, Kelly Racing is keeping up the fight with its four Altimas with the form of its unsung young-gun André Heimgartner highlighting the stellar job the team is doing.
Triple Eight Dreamteam
Triple Eight Race Engineering has secured a formidable line-up for the PIRTEK Enduro Cup, reuniting Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup and bringing in Garth Tander.
Generation Change
Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander’s full-time retirements mark the tipping point in Supercars’ most significant generation change in more than a decade.
End Of An Era At GRM
Garry Rogers Motorsport’s decision to let Garth Tander go to make way for Richie Stanaway suggests further changes are on the way for one of Supercars’ oldest teams.
Right On Track
Getting The Band Back Together
Garry The Guru
Exciting Times Ahead
The Powerhouse Teams
The domination of Scott McLaughlin in 2019 will lift Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske to the top of the all-time Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars drivers’ championship wins. Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske along with eight other teams have won three or more drivers’ titles and enjoyed periods of domination across the championship and Bathurst 500/1000. These are the dominant teams of Australian touring cars.
The Mustang Muddle
The Falcon hasn’t been part of the Australian marketplace since Ford ended production in October 2017, but the FG X Supercar will race on until the end of 2018 at the least. Will it be replaced by the Mustang? The saga continues...