Having leased a Holden Commodore ZB from Terry Wyhoon’s Image Racing, Apogee Motorsport’s front-running V8 SuperUtes driver Rossi Johnson completed his first Gen2 laps at Winton Raceway.
Lining up to contest Super2 rounds in Darwin and Adelaide, the team’s goal is to complete the full season in 2027 alongside its commitments in Toyota 86 competition and V8 SuperUtes.
“For us, it’s a ‘dip the toe in the water’ exercise,” Apogee Motorsport director Scott Stephenson explained to Speedcafe.
“We’ve been running Toyota 86s in the Scholarship Series for four years now, we’ve been doing GR Cup and we’re doing the SuperUte Series as well, which is all part of our development pathway.
“When I started Apogee four and a half, five years ago now, we said from day one wanted to create a team in South Australia because we were sick of hearing go-karters having to go interstate to find a good team.
“We also really wanted to be one of the first teams in the country to have that kind of development pathway.
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“You take a kid out of karts, you throw him in an 86 and then he can step up through the Scholarship Series, the GR Cup series, SuperUtes if they want, and then into Super2.
“It’s undeniable that Toyota is the pathway for junior drivers trying to make a name for themselves in the Supercars landscape.
“SuperUtes obviously also provides an entertaining and a really good commercial platform as well for partners and drivers, but essentially our focus is purely on a driver development pathway from the ground up to Supercars.”
Stephenson explained the team wants to help Johnson to graduate out of junior categories.
“Ultimately for us, what we’re trying to get out of it through the two rounds we’re doing this year is to get across the cars and the processes, the series, how it operates,” Stephenson said.
“This year, we’re just going to have a crack at Darwin and Adelaide at this stage with Rossi.
“Rossi’s been driving with us for four years, so it’s about time he graduated.
“And then, with the learnings from this year, next year we plan to do the full series with Rossi and hopefully a second car.”
Johnson has shown significant speed during the opening two rounds of V8 SuperUtes and Aussie Racing Cars, proving to be a consistent front-runner.
The Darwin local left Round 2 of the Aussie Racing Cars series in Tasmania tied with Ayrton Hodson for the championship lead.
Stephenson was impressed with how Johnson came to grips with the ZB Commodore, having previously only driven an ex-Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon FG.
“Rossi did a good job,” Stephenson said.
“He probably did 70 laps for the day, so he did a lot of laps, mostly just focussing on getting the most out of the tyre and trusting the tyre.
“He is very used to the V8 SuperUte where there’s not as much grip as a Supercar, obviously.
“So, just getting used to leaning on the tyre was probably the biggest thing for him, and trying to trust that the car’s got the grip to put the power down.”
Stephenson noted the team’s goal to learn as much as possible, but remained positive in its ability to adapt to Super2.
“I think the team learned a lot,” Stephenson added.
“From my perspective, I just want to make sure our team is across all the major changes you get to make during sessions and the important prep side of things before and after sessions.
“We’ve got good people around us, we’ve got mechanics that have worked in Super2 for years as well, so it’s not like we’re starting from the ground up.
“But there is still plenty to learn, so we’ll try and do as much of that learning this year as we can ready to have a crack next year.”
With its sole Super2 test day completed, the team now sets focus on the Darwin Triple Crown from June 19-21.
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