As revealed by Speedcafe last November, the team has elected to retain Dale Wood to pair with rookie full-time signing Kai Allen.

Wood joined the team last season as co-driver to Richie Stanaway and made an unplanned solo cameo at the Adelaide 500 following the Kiwi’s concussion diagnosis.

Grove spearhead Matt Payne will once again have Garth Tander alongside him following a previously announced extension of the five-time Bathurst 1000 winner’s multi-faceted contract.

“Having continuity with our co-driver line-up will allow us to build on what we achieved last year,” said Grove Racing team principal David Cauchi.

“Dale brings a wealth of experience to the team which will be valuable for Kai in his rookie season.”

Wood, 41, has 17 previous Bathurst 1000 starts to his name for a best finish of fourth with Erebus Motorsport in 2017.

“With Dale being as experienced as he is, his leadership will be so important to our campaign,” said Allen, 19.

“Having Dale in my corner for my first endurance campaign as a primary driver will help my preparation and allow me to extract the most out of myself.

“I’m sure we are going to have some fun and hopefully we can walk away after Bathurst with some great results!”

Carrera Cup regular Wood expects to hit the ground running with Groves this year following his 2024 exploits with the team.

Wood did not get to drive in the Sandown 500 due to an early engine failure but performed strongly at Bathurst for an eventual ninth place finish.

“I’ve watched Kai since his Super3 days and always believed he was a future star of the sport,” said Wood.

“To be able to work with him and support him in his first full-time campaign is something I’m looking forward to.

“Having competed in last year’s endurance campaign, as well as Adelaide, I’m far more familiar with the car and the team moving into this season.

“This should make it easier to transition back into the Mustang, and ultimately set us up for success.”

Grove is one of a number of Supercars squads to have secured its endurance line-up ahead of the 2025 season getting underway.

Others to confirm co-drivers include Triple Eight (Scott Pye, Jamie Whincup), Dick Johnson Racing (Tony D’Alberto, Todd Hazelwood), Tickford (Mark Winterbottom, James Moffat) and Erebus (Jobe Stewart, Jarrod Hughes).

Walkinshaw Andretti United is understood to have secured young gun Jayden Ojeda and Fabian Coulthard, while those with one co-driver known to be locked in include Matt Stone Racing (Tim Slade), Team 18 (Lee Holdsworth) and PremiAir Racing (David Russell).