Walkinshaw Racing grows to four cars next season as the team attempts to regain its championship winning form.
In addition to Holden Racing Team incumbents Garth Tander and James Courtney, the organisation will welcome two new drivers in Tim Slade and Nick Percat.
Slade, who replaces Russell Ingall in the Supercheap Auto-backed entry, is a proven force in V8 Supercars having raced full-time since 2009.
Although yet to score a race win, Slade recorded fifth in the points standings last year; the ‘best of the rest’ behind the dominant Triple Eight and Ford Performance Racing entries.
Not at those lofty heights this year following Stone Brothers Racing’s transformation into Erebus Motorsport, the 28-year-old has proven the class of the Mercedes-mounted trio for the bulk of the season.
Slade was head-hunted by Walkinshaw to replace Ingall, reuniting with Supercheap – who he raced for in his rookie season at Paul Morris Motorsport – in the process.
Fellow South Australian Percat meanwhile was confirmed last Friday in the team’s fourth entry, which has been added to the stable via Racing Entitlements Contract holder James Rosenberg.
The 25-year-old Percat is no stranger to the Walkinshaw team having been backed by the organisation since his move from Aussie Racing Cars to Formula Ford in 2007.
Percat spent three seasons in Walkinshaw Development Series equipment from 2010 before moving to the Carrera Cup. There he took an impressive five from seven pole positions and five from 20 race wins on the way to second in the title.
This weekend’s Sydney 500 marks his first solo V8 Supercars Championship start, although he has previously completed eight endurance races with the team, including a victory in the 2011 Bathurst 1000.
The two new recruits will add to an already interesting intra-team battle between Tander and Courtney that has been much closer this season than in the latter’s first two years with the outfit.
Seemingly gelling better with the new style of car, Courtney had sat three places ahead of Tander in the championship standings before a disastrous run across the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
Tander has used all the grit and determination for which he is renowned in recent races, scoring an unlikely win last time out at Phillip Island.
He enters the final round sixth in points with Courtney ninth and poised to fall out of the top 10 due to his injury-induced absence.
The dynamic between the pair could yet take another turn next year under new managing director Adrian Burgess and technical director Mathew Nilsson.
Burgess has a long-running friendship with Courtney, who he worked with in British Formula 3 and more recently at Dick Johnson Racing, and played a key role in the star driving re-signing for a further three years.
This week’s Pirtek Poll asks readers: Which Walkinshaw driver will be the highest placed in the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship standings?
