Dale Wood will rejoin Kelly Racing to partner Rick Kelly in the upcoming Pirtek Enduro Cup.
The former Supercars full-timer is set to share the #15 Castrol Racing Nissan Altima for the endurance season, which begins with the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 from October 10-13.
Wood is a familiar face at the Braeside squad having raced for the team during its fledgling seasons in 2009 and 2010 before rejoining the outfit for the 2016 campaign, where he drove the #96 Nissan Altima.
The 35-year-old has been racing in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia after losing his full-time Supercars seat at Erebus Motorsport at the end of 2017, and is currently leading the one-make series’ standings after three rounds.
Last season Wood dovetailed his Carrera Cup commitments with an enduro drive alongside Tim Blanchard in the Team CoolDrive ZB Commodore, finishing 19th in the Pirtek Enduro Cup points.
Wood will jump behind the wheel of the Castrol Nissan in Saturday’s Additional Driver practice at the Truck Assist Winton Super Sprint.
“Rick and I have shared a lot of experiences together over the years but never a driver’s seat so it will be pretty cool to join a good mate this year for the Supercars enduro series,” said Wood.
“It’s also really cool to be coming back to Kelly Racing, I raced for the team many years ago as a main driver and a co-driver, so it’s great to be able to come back and drive with Rick this year and I’m really looking forward to it.
“This year I’ve been driving in the Porsche Carrera Cup which is quite different from the Supercars, especially being on the left-hand side of the car so it will be good to hit the track at Winton for the co-driver session and blow the cobwebs out and really just try and get used to being in a Supercar again.”
“It’s going to be fun driving with Rick, we’ll go out there and give it a good crack and hopefully we can have some champagne at the end of the day.”
The team is yet to confirm its co-drivers for the Simona De Silvestro and Garry Jacobson entries, although Alex Rullo and Dean Fiore are tipped to join the duo respectively.
Entry list: Pirtek Enduro Cup Provisional
Num | Team | Primary driver | Co-driver | Car |
2 | Mobil 1 Mega Racing (WAU) | Scott Pye | Warren Luff | Holden ZB Commodore |
22 | Mobil 1 Mega Racing (WAU) | James Courtney | Jack Perkins | Holden ZB Commodore |
3 | Rabble.Club Racing (Kelly) | Garry Jacobson | TBA (Dean Fiore)* | Nissan Altima L33 |
7 | Plus Fitness Racing (Kelly) | Andre Heimgartner | Bryce Fullwood | Nissan Altima L33 |
15 | Castrol Racing (Kelly) | Rick Kelly | Dale Wood | Nissan Altima L33 |
78 | Team Harvey Norman (Kelly) | Simona De Silvestro | TBA (Alex Rullo)* | Nissan Altima L33 |
5 | The Bottle-O Racing (Tickford) | Lee Holdsworth | TBA (Thomas Randle)* | Ford Mustang |
6 | Monster Energy Racing (Tickford) | Cameron Waters | Michael Caruso | Ford Mustang |
23 | Milwaukee Racing (Tickford/23Red) | Will Davison | Alex Davison | Ford Mustang |
55 | Supercheap Auto Racing (Tickford) | Chaz Mostert | James Moffat | Ford Mustang |
8 | Brad Jones Racing | Nick Percat | TBA (Tim Blanchard)* | Holden ZB Commodore |
14 | Freightliner Racing (BJR) | Tim Slade | TBA (Ash Walsh)* | Holden ZB Commodore |
21 | Team CoolDrive (BJR/TBR) | Macauley Jones | TBA | Holden ZB Commodore |
9 | Penrite Racing (Erebus) | David Reynolds | Luke Youlden | Holden ZB Commodore |
99 | Penrite Racing (Erebus) | Anton De Pasquale | Will Brown | Holden ZB Commodore |
12 | Shell V-Power Racing Team (DJRTP) | Fabian Coulthard | Tony D’Alberto | Ford Mustang |
17 | Shell V-Power Racing Team (DJRTP) | Scott McLaughlin | Alexandre Premat | Ford Mustang |
18 | Irwin Racing (Team 18) | Mark Winterbottom | Steven Richards | Holden ZB Commodore |
19 | Truck Assist Tekno Racing | Jack Le Brocq | TBA | Holden ZB Commodore |
33 | Boost Mobile Racing (GRM) | Richie Stanaway | TBA | Holden ZB Commodore |
34 | Boost Mobile Racing (GRM) | James Golding | TBA | Holden ZB Commodore |
35 | Matt Stone Racing | Todd Hazelwood | TBA | Holden ZB Commodore |
97 | Red Bull Holden Racing Team (Triple Eight) | Shane van Gisbergen | Garth Tander | Holden ZB Commodore |
888 | Red Bull Holden Racing Team (Triple Eight) | Jamie Whincup | Craig Lowndes | Holden ZB Commodore |
* Tipped to secure the drive