The starting shot for the Bathurst 1000 2021. Image: Mark Horsburgh
To get in the Christmas spirit, Speedcafe.com is exploring what any Repco Supercars Championship team could want to make 2022 their year.
With a lot of ups and downs in the pit lane, the last season of the current Gen2 cars turned out to be fascinating …
Your team’s Christmas wish as suggested by Speedcafe.com:
Blanchard Racing Team: Even number of cars on the grid
What an impressive first year BRT had as a standalone.
While an expansion is foreseen in the future plans, it will remain a single car outfit in 2022 … which could prove problematic as there will be an odd number of cars (25) in the next season.
BRT runs a lean, mean machine, but manning a full pit crew (as opposed to 50/50 like this year’s third entry from Tickford Racing) would prove to be a costly job.
Brad Jones Racing: An engineering guru
Quite a bit of clout has gone out of the door this off-season, with engineering manager Andrew Edwards moving to Triple Eight, lead driver Nick Percat driving to Walkinshaw Andretti United, and both Todd Hazelwood and Pete Vale linked to Matt Stone Racing.
Andre Heimgartner and Bryce Fullwood come to fill the driver positions, but not a word remains about a new spearhead engineer.
Of course, BJR already has a lot of skills in this department with the likes of Paul Scalzo … but the engineering arms race (expertise) has been going on for some time and could be especially important with Gen3 along the way.
Dick Johnson Racing: De Pasquale puts the pen to paper
Perhaps a legacy of the Penske era is that DJR remains notoriously cautious on contract details, making it really hard to know when Anton De Pasquale’s current contract will expire.
But when the time comes, fixing it should be high on your priority list.
Yes, he still has a few little things to clean up in his racing trim, but De Pasquale is the fastest driver on the grid through and through – and that is really an invaluable quality.
He is her husband for the foreseeable future.
Erebus Motorsport: More of the same
To cut a long story short, Erebus appeared almost mixed up around this time last year due to its high turnover.
But on the flip side, it’s arguably better than ever, and with two young riders and a lot of momentum from the back half of the season, it’s hard to imagine that things won’t get any better.
Roll to 2022.
Grove Racing: Rain – or a magic potion
A 2021 season in which the Grove family teamed up with the Kellys ultimately did little to cure the team’s usual ill-advised inconsistency.
The only constant that turned out, however, is its serious pace in wet conditions.
Braeside comes with 100 percent ownership of Groves and a new team principal in the form of David Cauchi, but for now, if the ups and downs can’t be beaten, it would rain on certain 13 weekends next year doing no harm to Grove Racing.
Matt Stone Racing: Stability behind the scenes
MSR added experience to its roster by signing Todd Hazelwood and Jack Le Brocq, not to mention bringing Pete Vale on as team principal.
However, it is important to avoid repeating the 2021 Ingenieur revolving door.
Jake Kostecki had to be content with a mixture of Tim Newton (before his exit), Chris Stuckey and Matt Saunders – hardly a perfect recipe for success.
Team 18: Better reliability
Charlie Schwerkolt’s squad had to sympathize with the home game this year, as issue after issue rose.
A lot of these seemed to revolve around the controls, and worst of all, Scott Pye / James Goldings Great Race was basically cruelly over before it began.
Team 18 has been knocking on the door of the championship top for some time – can 2022 be the year they take the next step?
Team Sydney: Fast forward to 2023
Despite re-emerging rumors of a possible sale of the team, Jonathon Webb will be back on top next year.
The second year under the Team Sydney banner seemed like little improvement over year one … so it’s hard to imagine that 2022 will suddenly get drastically better.
The car of the future brought good things to Tekno in 2013 … a decade later, Gen3 is shaping up like a silver bullet to make some progress, at least in the pecking order.
Tickford Racing: A car that Waters can unleash
That author would argue that Cameron Waters was as good as, if not better than, any driver who was not named Shane van Gisbergen in 2021. one of them is a fairly skilled helmsman named James Courtney, 2010 champion).
However, these Tickford Fords still have a pretty big gap between their good and bad tracks, which was most evident in the four weeks at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Whoever wants to win a championship simply cannot be absent.
Triple Eight Race Engineering: Another Bathurst wildcard
While Broc Feeney is likely to experience a steep learning curve in the spotlight, it’s hard to imagine that Shane van Gisbergen isn’t in the middle of the battle for the title.
There’s a changing of the guard behind the scenes, but the truth is, it’s all long been planned and shouldn’t become an unforeseen drama.
There are intrigues about how to handle a potential three-to-two passenger situation, however, with Jamie Whincup, Garth Tander, and Craig Lowndes all having A-class options.
Best case scenario? Take another Bathurst 1000 Wildcard to get all three back in the books.
Walkinshaw Andretti United: A new manufacturer
Everything fits together so well for the Bathurst 1000 winning team in 2021.
To have Clayton vying for championships again would be a tremendous tale – perhaps only dwarfed by bringing a third brand to Gen3.
WAU has made no secret of its ambition to work closely with a new manufacturer and wouldn’t it be a great thing for the sport if they finally made it?
The Speedcafe.com team wishes you a Merry Christmas.
