The upcoming sale of the team first became known last November, which led to violent denials from team boss Jonathon Webb via other media.
However, as predicted, the team did in fact change hands, making successful drag racer and businessman Xiberras the new owner of Team Sydney.
Autosport believes the deal was presented to the Supercars board of directors back in December, but has only now been finalized.
The team is being renamed PremiAir Racing and is effectively being built from the ground up with a new base in Queensland or Victoria, depending on where the majority of the new employees are from.
“Jonathon and I have been talking for a while,” Xiberras told Autosport.
“To be right at the front, we didn’t get any closer until Bathurst. We have been in negotiations since then. It’s a big deal, there’s a lot to consider, but long story short, we all agreed late last week to make it happen.
“There have been discussions about pushing it back to this year or if we’re going to start over with Gen3. Those options were on the table.
“But for us, while we may come at the wrong time, we will use this as a learning year. There’s a lot to learn, a lot to make, and this is going to be a good year.
“And then when Gen3 comes, we will be competitive.”
Fabian Coulthard, Team Sydney Holden
Photo by: Edge Photographics
The deal casts doubt on Fabian Coulthard and Garry Jacobson’s current driver line-up, with no firm guarantees that both will stand if the team changes hands.
“I can’t comment too much,” Xiberras said when asked about drivers.
“There’s a lot going on in a short time. But I am confident that we will compete, look halfway decent and not embarrass each other at the first meeting. “
With the sale of the team, the era of Tekno Autosports at Supercars comes to an end.
The team began in 2010 as a satellite of Dick Johnson Racing driven by Webb before becoming a standalone team the following season.
In 2013, Tekno signed Shane van Gisbergen and won a number of races as Triple Eight’s top customer team.
When van Gisbergen switched to T8 in 2016, Will Davison joined the team, he and Webb won that year’s Bathurst 1000.
However, the team has struggled to compete over the past few seasons and the promise of a fresh start as Team Sydney has remained unfulfilled.
Webb and his wife Kobe thanked a number of Tekno supporters in a statement made available to the media.
“Kobe and I are grateful that Peter Xiberras and PremiAir Hire will continue to build Team Sydney within the Supercars Championship,” it said.
“We are grateful for the support and friendships we have made over the past 12 years of racing – most notably Tony Quinn, Triple 8, KRE, ARDC, Steve Hallam, Dr. Geoffrey Slater, Mick Shortus (our first collaborator for our entire Supercars journey) and many more.
“Thanks to our drivers, crew and families.”
