Triple Eight Race Engineering is unlikely to continue in the Dunlop Series next season following Casey Stoner’s decision to step down from the class.
The Roland Dane run squad joined the second-tier series in 2011, winning the title on debut with Andrew Thompson before finishing second with rookie driver Scott Pye last year.
Although Stoner’s arrival into the team this year was much hyped, the two-time MotoGP World Champion has endured a torrid season littered with incidents.
The 27-year-old sits 18th in the standings heading into this weekend’s penultimate round at Bathurst and says he’ll take a sabbatical from full-time racing next year.
Dane says the fact that the Dunlop Series now runs to a different technical formula than the V8 Supercars Championship has made the second-tier less attractive.
“You probably should never say never but at the moment I’m not inclined to field a DVS (Development Series) team (next year),” Dane confirmed to Speedcafe.com
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“The issue is not so much that Casey will not continue, it is when you are running the same car out there in the series it is very easy to do both.
“Well now we’ve run out of that (benefit) because we are not using the same bits.”
Dane also noted that some Dunlop Series squads have not exactly welcomed Triple Eight’s involvement in the class following its domination of the main game in recent years.
“I think there may be a few people who prefer we are not there,” he said.
Brad Jones Racing and Tony D’Alberto Racing are currently the only other V8 Supercars Championship teams running in the Dunlop Series.
The former fields Holdens for its endurance co-drivers Andrew Jones and Chris Pither, while the latter campaigns a Ford for rookie Nick McBride.
Fellow main series squads Ford Performance Racing and Walkinshaw Racing pulled out of the Dunlop Series at the end of last year but continue to retain 2012-generation chassis.
Garry Rogers Motorsport and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport also remain in possession of eligible cars, although the former is highly unlikely to appear in the Dunlop Series any time soon given its new-for-2014 deal with Volvo.
MW Motorsport’s Dale Wood leads the Dunlop Series standings heading to Bathurst, sitting 162 points clear of Matt Stone Racing’s Ashley Walsh.
