Besides James Courtney’s departure from Dick Johnson Racing to drive for the Toll Holden Racing Team, the iconic Queensland team is poised to remain largely unchanged next year.
While speculation over the past months pointed towards Johnson’s V8 title leading team being split in half, it appears that there’s a better than even chance that the squad will remain a two-car team next year.
Regardless of the championship outcome this weekend at the Sydney Telstra 500, Courtney will leave DJR, Steve Johnson will stay on board for his 12th-straight year as a full-time driver for the team, and a number of drivers have been linked to Courtney’s #18 seat, including outed FPR driver Steve Richards.
In terms of team ownership, the deal to keep the team as a two-car entity would see co-owners Johnson and Charlie Schwerkolt continue to own their respective portions of the team, with Schwerkolt leasing his share to Johnson.
Schwerkolt would not play an active role in the day-to-day running of the team.
Johnson told Speedcafe.com.au that a meeting this afternoon in Sydney could play its part in officially sealing the outcome of the team’s presence next year.
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“As we speak, we’re heading into town to have more meetings, so until such time and we get all our ducks in a row, I really can’t speculate on anything,” the legend told Speedcafe.com.au today.
Besides Courtney and his engineer Scott Sinclair’s departure to Toll HRT, the only other significant change within DJR appears to be Sporting Director Adrian Burgess, who will leave to manage TeamVodafone next year.
Also, the team’s third car of Jonathon Webb will leave the squad, setting up its own one-car team.
