Noble confirmed earlier this month that he would not renew his contract with the team and instead explore new opportunities.
The Tasmanian-born Noble was a left-field appointment to DJR after more than 20 years working in the AFL, which culminated in a brief stint as head coach of North Melbourne.
Speedcafe understands Noble is exploring involvement in the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, most likely in an athlete development role.
Significant funding is being allocated to ensure Queensland has a strong representation at the Games and Noble’s background has him well placed to contribute.
While Noble isn’t ready to talk about his Olympic quest, he said leaving DJR and the Supercars paddock following this weekend’s Adelaide Grand Final will be tough.
“It’s a difficult decision, because I love the sport,” said Noble.
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“I’ve really enjoyed the contacts, the combativeness that we have up and down pit lane, and the challenges that you go through. I wouldn’t change a thing on the experiences that we’ve had.
“[But] I’ve had 25 years in sport and there’s a couple of opportunities that have flagged up for me, quite excitingly, that I need to explore.”
Noble has overseen a turbulent time for DJR.
Having already slipped from the heights of its DJR Team Penske era, the team has failed to be a consistent winner under the Gen3 rules introduced in 2023.
Major staff turnover occurred ahead of 2025, where DJR began a new chapter with the recruitment of star driver Brodie Kostecki and key engineers from Erebus Motorsport.
There’s more change ahead with teen Rylan Gray replacing veteran Will Davison for 2026, and the loss of Ford homologation team and engine supplier duties to Triple Eight.
Noble feels the team is now in better shape than when he arrived.
“Maybe looking back at the post-Penske days, we were a little bit slow to move on a few things,” he said.
“We’ve spent more time internally now looking at succession planning, the growth of our talent coming through, as in holistic talent, not just driver talent, but internal staff talent.”
Musing on the lessons he will take out of his time in Supercars, Noble outlined differences and similarities with his experiences in other sports.
“I think it reinforces the importance of your leadership, your cultural environment,” he said, noting work undertaken on driver performance analysis and pit crew conditioning.
“I brought some new elements of talent management and talent assessment, in regards to what we’ve looked at.
“Private ownership is completely different to not for profit,” he added.
“It’s way more robust. It’s a lot more political, because it’s a lot more competing forces. So that’s been great experience for me to learn.
“But the fundamental is the same. Get good people in, and you generally get the job done.”
Noble noted the scale of the investment heading towards the Brisbane Olympics when asked about the future of Supercars.
He believes the new-for-2025 Finals Series format will help lift Supercars, but said the now James Warburton-led business needs to invest to compete with other codes.
“Supercars just needs to keep an eye on the landscape going forward,” he said.
“AFL last year said they’re going to spend a billion dollars in the next 10 years on talent identification. NRL are doing the same, they’re expanding, they’re go to LA, they’re going international.
“You look at the Olympic movement at the moment, coming into 2032 Queensland will have the biggest athlete budget it’s ever had in the expansion of athlete development in the next 10 years.
“New South Wales be the same.
“So what does that mean? I’m hoping that Supercars can see that they continually need to move and adapt and improve sport in order to compete.
“If James is good for his word that he wants Supercars to be the number three sport in the nation, then he’s going to need to do it, because the other sports around them are having a fair crack at spending money.”
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