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Dick Johnson Racing Managing Director Ryan Story has explained what the transition period with Team Penske will involve.
Late last month it was announced Team Penske would part company with the team now known as Dick Johnson Racing.
In a statement from the team, which also confirmed Scott McLaughlin’s full-time IndyCar Series signing, Team Penske said it would help with the transition phase into 2021.
Speaking with Speedcafe.com, Story said the US operation will still have a presence with Dick Johnson Racing in 2021, but will not have any stake in its ownership.
“Basically they’ll remain as a partner of the organisation,” Story said when asked what the transition period meant.
“The reference to transition in some respects was with that, but certainly we’re continuing racing with Dick Johnson Racing with support from Penske.
“Obviously, they’ll still be around the place in many respects.”
The arrival of Team Penske to Supercars saw the North American racing magnate use the team as a means to promote Penske Commercial Vehicles in Australia and New Zealand.
Story said that Roger Penske will continue to facilitate some of his business-to-business relationships through Dick Johnson Racing.
“There will be a partnership, more broadly speaking, that will continue on,” Story explained.
“We’ll look to continue to build upon some of the success that we’ve had with the business-to-business relationships over the years.
“Whilst they won’t be as active and the lead in that, given they’re not the majority shareholder in the team anymore, some of those relationships will continue to prosper and will continue into the future.
“They won’t retain any ownership but they will be sponsoring the team. We’ll still be working with them on some of the business-to-business things but they won’t be the primary driver of some of those business-to-business relationships.
“The business-to-business relationships that have been built over the six years will continue.
“A lot of our sponsors have business with Penske, in addition to business amongst themselves. So, a lot of those things will continue on. We’ll do everything we can to continue to support that.”
Story said that while the team has benefitted from Team Penske’s support over the past six years, the lion’s share of the technical workings have been Australian made.
“It’s important to remember that whilst we’ve had the benefit of working with Penske, and Penske being the majority owner of the team for the last six years, the engineering of the cars, and the development of the cars, and the manufacturing components, has all happened here,” said Story.
“It’s all happened here, locally. It’s important to emphasize that. None of those sorts of things will change.”
Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale have been confirmed as DJR’s two full-time drivers for 2021.
