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Amid a so far winless 2024 season, 79-year-old legend Johnson is convinced the team carrying his name is building towards another grand era.
That confidence is partly based on the recent signing of 2023 Supercars champion Brodie Kostecki, whose recruitment from Erebus Motorsport was recently confirmed.
“Our team has been through a lot of different drivers over many, many seasons,” declared five-time champion Johnson, who founded DJR in 1980.
“I can assure you next year will be the rebirth of this team to where it’s been in the past and we’re throwing everything at it.”
Johnson says he’d had his eye on Kostecki since the West Aussie shot to prominence as a co-driver for Erebus at the 2020 Bathurst 1000.
“The thing for me that made him special was going back a few years at Bathurst, when Jamie Whincup was trying to get past him,” he said.
“He didn’t fall for any of the tricks or anything like that. He certainly won out in the end.”
The famous moment Johnson refers to resulted in Whincup crashing out at The Cutting as Kostecki – co-driving with the man he’ll now replace at DJR, Anton De Pasquale – stood his ground.
Kostecki, 26, is being paired with 42-year-old Will Davison at DJR, giving the Ford team a balanced line-up.
“Will has been around a long time, everyone is saying that he’s old, that’s got nothing to do with it,” Johnson said.
“It’s a matter of the guy is so focused and all he thinks about is motor racing.”
MORE: Why DJR chose Davison over De Pasquale
Johnson’s optimism for 2025 isn’t all about drivers.
Any resurgence will need to be underpinned by a more focused engineering group, freed of the recent tyranny that has come with being Ford’s Gen3 homologation team.
“We’ve had an awful lot going on with the homologation of the new Gen3 car and things like that, building the prototype and also taking on the running of the engine shop,” Johnson said.
“There’s been a fair bit going on, so a lot of things have taken a back seat but from this point on, we’re up front.”
SOLD! Gen3 prototypes set for new home
DJR’s engineering staff will be bolstered next year by the arrival of Kostecki’s current race engineer George Commins, as Speedcafe revealed last week.
