Jonathon Webb says that securing his team’s second driver will become more of a priority in the coming weeks as the team aims to lock away its 2013 deals.
The two car Holden team is currently working on locking in its second driver, plus consistent sponsorship dollars that have alluded the competitive Queensland squad this year.
Current second driver Michael Patrizi remains in the mix to retain his drive in the #91 entry, while Webb’s endurance race co-driver Scott McLaughlin, plus Kelly Racing driver Karl Reindler are believed to be in contention.
Webb says that the process to select the second driver will ramp up soon.
“We haven’t really had enough time to think about who will drive our second car next year because the team has been busy lately,” Webb told Speedcafe.com.
“It is something that probably has to happen sooner rather than later, so we will sit down and evaluate where we are at.
“Obviously sponsorship and Car Of The Future is taking up most of our time but we’re getting close to sitting down and sorting it out.”
Webb’s team-mate Patrizi has enjoyed a season of surprise, punching well above what many pundits had predicted. A driveline failure in the opening stages of last weekend’s Bathurst 1000 cost him a chance of a result, but Webb says that Patrizi and others are all under consideration.
“There is a lot of things playing off, but Michael has done everything we’ve asked of him this year so I guess he can’t do much more than that at the moment,” Webb said.
“Scott (McLaughlin) has done a brilliant job for us. I don’t really know why someone else didn’t grab him before. I was fortunate to be able to get hold of him and he’s done a perfect job, I couldn’t ask anymore of him.
“He’s kept the car straight at both Sandown and Bathurst, held position and if not moved forward after each time I handed the car over to him.
“I don’t know what his plans are for next year. He’s working pretty hard in the development series and had a pretty tough weekend at Bathurst (losing the lead of the series to Chaz Mostert) so he’ll have to work hard at Winton and Homebush to try and gather that back up.
“But we’ll definitely be talking to him between now and the end of the year.”
Webb and McLaughlin finished a strong sixth in last weekend’s Bathurst 1000, only dropping out of the top five after the late charge from Craig Lowndes.
“Yeah we were happy with sixth,” Webb said.
“Lowndes and (James) Courtney were able to get an extra lap on fuel. Our car was fast, and when Lowndes went past, I was able to go with him until the team told me I had to back it off so I could make it home on fuel.
“It was disappointing because I couldn’t show what we really had but I’m happy with sixth.”
The next event on the V8 Supercars Championship will be on Webb’s home soil on the streets of Surfers Paradise for the Armor All Gold Coast 600. Webb will team up with German Marc Lieb, while Patrizi will be paired with former F1 driver Lucas di Grassi.
