Team Sydney has employed the services of Sieders Racing staff to help its Virgin Australia Supercars Championship campaign.
Based out of Western Sydney, the family-owned team is well known in the Australian motor racing scene for their efforts in the SuperUtes Series and Toyota 86 Racing Series.
The team has previously had experience in Supercars with one Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 start to its name with David Sieders and Andrew Fisher.
Following this weekend’s Superloop Adelaide 500, Team Sydney – formerly known as Tekno Austosports – will relocate to a new base in Sydney.
Speaking with Speedcafe.com, team boss Jonathon Webb said his squad is largely made up of existing team members and new crew from the Sieders Racing operation.
“Part of the Team Sydney thing is working in a Sydney base,” said Webb.
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“As everyone knows the Sieders guys are well established. We’d be silly not to at least work with those guys in a small city environment.
“The majority are new. There are a couple of guys that have rolled over. We needed to at least double our staff.”
Part of the challenge the Sieders workforce has faced has been accustomed to the intricacies of the Supercars.
Pit stop practice has been a challenge with much of the young crew yet to to complete an in-race pit stop.
Webb said he knows the team is fresh but will be ready by the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
“We’re thankful with Adelaide it’s not a tyre race,” he said.
“We’ll have a fair bit of fuel in [the cars], so that gives us a bit of time just to gel.
“By the time we get to the grand prix the boys will be on top of it. It’s just a matter of getting in the groove.”
The lead up to the opening round saw a run of late announcements by Team Sydney.
James Courtney receiving Boost Mobile backing and a new livery while Chris Pither was only officially confirmed on Thursday to be in the team full-time.
Webb admitted preparations have been hectic with a delay in receiving their second car due to the Vehicle Control Aerodynamic Testing (VCAT).
The team appeared at the track on Wednesday with spare equipment supplied and branded by long-time partners Triple Eight Race Engineering.
Despite the delays, Webb said he’s happy with how the team is progressing.
“It’s obviously busy, there’s been plenty going on,” said Webb
“At the moment, I’m pretty happy with the way it’s coming together. We’ve probably been a bit delayed because that was the aero car.
“As we all know, that was probably delayed by a month or so. It’s been busy getting that car ready. Thankfully the other car went together pretty easily.
“It’s the same car we had last year, we gave it a service, but other than that it’s been ready to go.
“We’ve just been spending time building everything else up to have enough equipment to run two cars the right way.
“The sticker side has put us behind a little bit too. The Triple Eight stuff, we’ve always worked with them whether it’s equipment or cars.
“We’re into our ninth or tenth season now, it’s a strong relationship.”
Courtney and Pither finished 21st and 22nd respectively in the opening Adelaide 500 practice session.
A broken lower control arm stifled Courtney’s running to just nine laps while Pither completed 18 laps. The pair ended the session 1.4 and 1.5 seconds adrift of the fastest time by David Reynolds.
Action at the Adelaide 500 continues on Friday with Practice 2 at 14:05 and Practice 3 at 18:00 local time.
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