The spotlight is back on Matt Stone Racing with the latest twist in the 2024 Supercars silly season.
MSR had, until recently, been considered the most likely destination for James Courtney, but he is now thought to be closer to a move to the Blanchard Racing Team.
The Box Hill-based Ford squad is set to have two seats to fill, pending its acquisition of a second Teams Racing Charter, with its Super2 driver Aaron Love and obvious candidate.
However, exchange of TRCs must follow a process which would yet take some time to play out and, in the meantime, a race-winning seat in a Chevrolet Camaro is now back in play.
As team owner Matt Stone indicated to Speedcafe, there is no shortage of drivers who have put their hand up for the #34 entry which Jack Le Brocq took to victory at Hidden Valley in June before he was signed by Erebus Motorsport to replace Will Brown.
Scott Pye is now the front-runner for that seat at MSR, Speedcafe understands, but Zane Goddard is also thought to be in the frame.
Pye is on the market given his impending departure from Team 18, which was confirmed in recent days.
The South Australian is a race winner in the Supercars Championship, triumphing at Albert Park in 2018 in a Walkinshaw Andretti United entry.
With his experience, he arguably fits the bill as someone who could help sustain MSR’s momentum, rather than starting again with a rookie.
So far as current full-time drivers are concerned, Pye is believed to be the prime candidate, with Nick Percat less likely but not necessarily out of the picture.
Also not out of the picture is Goddard, a former MSR driver.
It was the Yatala squad which fielded the Queenslander in his most recent full-time campaign, in 2021, before he took up an enduro gig as co-driver to Courtney, coincidentally, last year.
For 2023, he landed the plum opportunity as one of the drivers of Triple Eight Race Engineering’s wildcard entry.
The Supercheap Auto-backed programme has expanded to three events this year, with Goddard getting the #888 Camaro all to his own for the Hidden Valley event before he pairs up with Craig Lowndes in the upcoming enduros, at Sandown and Bathurst.
The 23-year-old also has a generous testing programme given the rules around enduro wildcards, and hence has had more seat time in Gen3 machinery than anyone who is not a regular on the grid this year.
He thus comes with not only the endorsement of being a Triple Eight driver, but also the tutelage of seven-time Great Race winner Lowndes.
In theory, both of the MSR seats are still up for grabs, although Cameron Hill is expected to renew for a second season in the #35 Camaro.
Meanwhile, PremiAir Racing is likely to keep is line-up of James Golding and Tim Slade for 2024, notwithstanding whispers of a change.
Further announcements on next year’s Supercars Championship grid are expected prior to or during the Sandown 500, which takes place on September 15-17.
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