Stanaway in frame for Grove Racing

Richie Stanaway has emerged as a candidate to drive for Grove Racing in the 2024 Supercars season.

Speedcafe understands that the New Zealander is now in the frame for a drive at the Penrite-backed Ford squad, following his return from Supercars exile last year.

He was signed by Triple Eight Race Engineering for this year’s enduros as co-driver to Shane van Gisbergen, who is off to NASCAR at season’s end.

However, Triple Eight has already propped for Will Brown to fill the Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro which van Gisbergen will vacate.

Grove Racing has rookie Matt Payne on a long-term deal but David Reynolds is coming off-contract this year.

While he has not been ruled out of staying on at the Braeside-based outfit for another season, he has been linked to the Team 18 drive currently held by Scott Pye.

Richie Stanaway has experienced tremendous highs and lows in Supercars since bursting onto the scene as a Tickford co-driver (in the satellite Super Black Racing entry) in 2016.

A year later, who won the Sandown 500 as co-driver to Cameron Waters, before going full-time in 2018.

However, the New Zealander split from the Ford team a year before his contract was up, only to become a shock recruit for Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2019 in connection with sponsor Boost Mobile.

Stanaway was thought to have retired from motorsport after yet another tumultuous season, which included a period on the sidelines due to a neck injury, but eventually made a belated comeback in a Boost-backed Erebus wildcard in last year’s Great Race, after COVID restrictions put paid to plans to do so in 2021.

Coincidentally, his arrival at GRM in 2019 led to the ousting of Garth Tander, who would be snapped up by Triple Eight as van Gisbergen’s enduro co-driver.

Stanaway was recruited by the Banyo-based squad when Tander moved in the off-season to none other than Grove Racing.

He told Speedcafe that he was open to replacing van Gisbergen as one of Triple Eight’s full-time Supercars drivers next year, although that will not come to pass.

Meanwhile, Brown is set to be replaced at Erebus Motorsport by Jack Le Brocq, as first reported by Speedcafe.

The 2023 Supercars season resumes this weekend at The Bend.