When Triple Eight Race Engineering held GM’s homologation team rights through the transition from Holden to Chevrolet, there was no doubt about them.
Triple Eight had hundreds of wins, hundreds of podiums, and championships in the double digits.
When Team 18 got the homologation rights, it had just one race win to its credit from 10 seasons in Supercars.
There were plenty who doubted them, and behind the scenes, Schwerkolt and team principal Adrian Burgess took umbrage with the doubters of the Mount Waverly-based Supercars squad.
“I don’t want to go back at people or anything like that, but there were people who have written ‘They’re never going to do anything, they’re never going to make it’,” Schwerkolt told Speedcafe.
“That’s what happens when you put all the ingredients with the right people, the right equipment, the right structure, the right culture, all together.
“We’ve got the best partners in pit lane, we’ve got the best of so many things. I know what I’m doing with the leadership of people like Waverley Forklifts, so it’s got to work.
“There’ll be a few people saying, ‘Oh, they’ll only get one win for the year’.
“We’ve got a plan to get three wins for the year, three podiums, minimum third in the teams’ championship. We were fifth last year. We’ll just keep pushing along.”
When Triple Eight Race Engineering snatched the Ford homologation team rights from Dick Johnson Racing, there was the obvious question of who would head up the Chevrolet efforts.
PremiAir Racing looked to be the most likely candidate during the negotiations, until Schwerkolt and Team 18 swooped in.
“Last year I had to fight pretty hard to get GM to believe in us because PremiAir was in the box seat then and all that sort of stuff,” said Schwerkolt.
“When I want something, and I fight for it, and prove that I’ve got the goods, I fight pretty hard.
“I know that’s all good now, they’re all happy and it’s vindicated they’ve made the right decision.
“We’ve triumphed in our first race weekend, so that’s everything.
“We’ve got to just keep the journey going. It’s a special time and a lot to do.”
If there was one word to describe Saturday night’s achievements, it was vindication.
Schwerkolt hopes Anton De Pasquale’s breakthrough win in the second race of the season will go some way to silencing the doubters.
“Today vindicated a lot of things for the team, sponsors, General Motors, Anton — there are a lot of things in all that, that we are the real deal, and we’ve put it together,” said Schwerkolt.
“I’m so, so proud. It’s all there to be done. Yeah, sure, it’s only one win, but it’s actually raw speed.
“We’re at a Ford track. I joked around to say, we’ve won the Ford Mustang Cup today in a Chev, so that means a lot to me too.”
Schwerkolt noted the efforts of team principal Burgess among a raft of key people, including US-based engineer Jeromy Moore and General Motors head of motorsport Simon McNamara.
“I had a plan a bit over two years ago to bring Adrian (Burgess) back to lead the whole thing and all that with me, and it’s proven,” he added.
“I couldn’t do it without him, it’s an instrumental part of the whole thing. It’s really exciting and yeah, let’s keep going.”
De Pasquale’s Race 2 win propelled him to the top of the drivers’ championship.
Teammate David Reynolds finished fifth, while Matt Stone Racing’s Jack Le Brocq was the only other Chevrolet Camaro in 10th.
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