A modern take on the Kelly Racing brand is expected to be revealed early next year as the Supercars squad returns to its roots following Nissan’s exit from the sport.
The Braeside operation has been working on a rebrand from the Nissan Motorsport banner, it adopted for the last six years, back to its original Kelly Racing guise, when the team launched in 2009.
Next year the squad will continue to run four Nissan Altimas albeit without factory support from the Japanese marque, which it formed an alliance with from 2013 until the end of this year.
The rebirth of the Kelly Racing identity has been months in the works and described by the squad’s marketing and sponsorship boss Nick Ryan as a ‘distinctive change’ that will feature a ‘modern’ adaption.
“From the start of next year, it’s a distinctive change that needs to be employed from the beginning of the year,” Ryan told Speedcafe.com.
“It’s been something that we’ve planned and prepared for.
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“The good thing for our brand was that although the Kelly Racing identity hasn’t been seen for six years, we’ve still had Rick (Kelly) and Todd (Kelly) that exist within the team.
“It’s not like we’re re-establishing ourself, but people still have that identity and recognition of who we are.
“To bring that (Kelly Racing) back to life is something that we will do with, I guess, a modern slant on what we had previously.
“The team has essentially changed over the course of the 10 years that we’ve been around.
“We’ll have a modern adaption of our brand and identity.
“From here, early in the new year, we will have something more official and public around the re-launch of that brand.
“It’s key timing. We’ve been in the category for 10 years now. It provides us a great opportunity to reflect on what we’ve done and what we’ve achieved.”
While the rebrand will be visible through a new team logo and identity, Ryan says the rebirth of Kelly Racing is much more than a change of logo.
“Oh, definitely. It’s a major change,” he added.
“It’s a representation of your business, it’s the identity of your business, it’s the tone of your business and how you portray yourself.
“There’s a lot work that goes behind the scenes to ensure that we’ve got a good handle on how that’s represented.
“We’ve certainly remained true to ourselves, but at the same time, it is a new identity for our team and step forward that we need to launch, and need to represent for the future.
“There has been a significant amount of planning to make sure that we get that right and that we have the right look and feel.”
An alteration to the car’s rear wing made during last week’s VCAT (V8 Supercars Aerodynamic Testing) has been signed off by Supercars’ technical department, the Supercars Commission, and rival homologation teams DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight.
Meanwhile, next season’s driver line-up is also yet to be determined with the outfit expected to run four Altimas.
Co-owner Rick Kelly and Simona De Silvestro are locked in, leaving seats that belonged to Andre Heimgartner and Michael Caruso to be decided.
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