Matt Stone Racing has settled on a driver for next year’s Repco Supercars Championship, Speedcafe.com understands.
The Truck Assist-backed squad has a vacancy to fill in its driving line-up for 2023 with the departure of Todd Hazelwood to the Blanchard Racing Team.
Jack Le Brocq will remain at the Yatala-based outfit, though it’s who his team-mate will be that is the unanswered question.
MSR boss Matt Stone expected to make an internal decision on a driver by Bathurst, however, that goalpost was moved to this weekend’s Gold Coast event.
Speedcafe.com understands a name has now been settled on, pending final agreements being locked away.
There were a number of candidates in the mix for the seat, given it was effectively the only available drive on the Supercars grid.
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Current Dunlop Super2 Series points leader Declan Fraser was the hot favourite, however, an agreement could not be met between both parties.
“My partners and I — Red Hot Couriers, Shapecut, MoneyMe, Pure Property Management, and Supercheap Auto, we tried as hard as we could,” Fraser told Speedcafe.com.
“At the end of the day, we just couldn’t meet the expectations that were set out to secure that drive.
“We look at it now and we wonder where we’re going to go from here and I think my main focus just shifts to the title for this year in Super2.
“Hopefully we can show what we can do and that gives us something else.”
With Fraser out of the running, it shortens the list of possible candidates.
The other names linked to the seat were Jayden Ojeda, Zak Best, Cameron Hill, and Angelo Mouzouris.
Stone has publicly stated he is looking toward youth ahead of the introduction of Gen3.
Ojeda was a co-driver for MSR in the last two editions of the Bathurst 1000, and competed as a main game wildcard earlier this year with Walkinshaw Andretti United.
Tickford Racing’s Best sits second in the Super2 standings, while Triple Eight pilot Hill is fourth.
Mouzouris has had a torrid season in both his Super2 and Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia campaigns, though his name has picked up traction in the paddock in recent weeks.
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