V8 Supercars: Silly Season Begins To Heat Up

Silly Season appears to now be an accepted part of sport now. I’m not sure when or where it was decried that in fact, speculating on who might be driving what car at what team would be almost as interesting as the on-track action itself, and I can’t say I’m a fan of the endless ‘Fernando Alonso to McLaren/Hendrick Motorsports/Dave Smith’s Pukka Pies Racing’ posts. But the V8 Supercars Silly Season already looks to be one full of genuine intrigue and plenty of questions to be answered, with a few major transfers already announced.

So with that in mind, let’s round up the best Supercar Silly Season Stories so far:

CONFIRMED: Super Black Racing Full-Time in 2015 with Andre Heimgartner

Let’s stick to deals which have been confirmed, and start off with one that has been unanimously well received up and down the paddock. The plucky Super Black Racing turned up at Bathurst, which was in itself an achievement after several other wildcard entries fell through, and then proceeded to run strongly throughout the race, eventually coming home 11th on debut at Bathurst for two young drivers in Heimgartner and Ant Pederson. I’d say that’s a mightily impressive achievement, considering the calibre of opposition and raw toughness of the track and race itself.

So it’s great to hear of the all-Kiwi team (I guess All Black Racing didn’t sit well with the rugby team, right?) getting a full-time crack in 2015, with Heimgartner running the full season and presumably Pederson coming back for the Enduro Cup. V8 Supercars is not an easy place for a rookie, and you really do either sink or swim – but Heimgartner and SBR look ready to tough it out and stake their place on the grid in 2015.

CONFIRMED: Lee Holdsworth to Charlie Schwerkolt Racing #18

How puzzling – much like the original genesis of this car and team, perhaps. Formed after a mysterious split within Dick Johnson Racing (more on them shortly), the #18 Ford of CSR first saw Alex Davidson running with them in 2013 before Jack Perkins this year, and will now see experienced hand Lee Holdsworth move over from the plucky but limited Erebus Racing squad. Perhaps Lee’s thinking is at least the Ford Falcon is well-established and all Fords get supported from Ford Performance Racing themselves – poor old Erebus have had to develop their Mercedes AMG E63 completely solo with no support from Silver Arrow themselves. Guess they were too busy locking up the F1 championship?

Either way it’s hard to tell if this will really jump Holdsworth back into overall race contention – the #18 car hasn’t exactly been a frontrunner, though Perkins has shown the odd flash this year. Meanwhile, this temporarily left a hole in the two-car Erebus stable, which has since been filled by…

CONFIRMED: Ash Walsh Moves Up to Main Game with Erebus

Currently 2nd in the Dunlop Series standings, Walsh also impressed with some highly capable runs for Dick Johnson Racing in the Enduro Cup this year. It’s good to see young guns rewarded for their pace, and Walsh should be set for a good step up into V8SC racing next year alongside well-experienced teammate Will Davidson. If Erebus still aren’t quite on point next year, it definitely won’t be down to their drivers.

CONFIRMED: Dahlgren Out, D-Wall In at Volvo Polestar

When poor Robert Dahlgren was embarrassingly demoted to 2nd driver for the Enduro Cup behind his co-driver Greg Ritter – a part-time racer and full-time plasterer – you knew the writing was on the wall for the Swede. Dahlgren has done a great deal of work behind the scenes and his contribution should not be taken for granted, and it seems perhaps the bigger reason for his departure wasn’t just a lack of pace – with Volvo planning a WTCC assault in 2016, it seems Dahlgren needs to return to Europe to work on their preparations in a more familiar environment.

This then left hotshoe Scott McLaughlin without a teammate – although the moving over of Wilson Security to the operation a few months back gave a hefty clue as to their new driver’s identity. Of course, it’s David Wall – a man who basically drives whatever cars have Wilson Security on the side. Wall may surprise us, but for now it looks like he will provide valuable sponsorship dollars to Garry Rogers Motorsport and be a solid number 2 to the Jandal-man McLaughlin.

Unconfirmed: DJR Penske Racing – Who Will Be Ambrose’s teammate?

Let’s address the elephant in the room shall we? The return of golden boy Marcos Ambrose from NASCAR, bringing US racing royalty in Rodger Penske, has understandably lit the V8SC paddock on fire. He comes back with a huge reputation behind him and an all-dominant overlord – Jamie Whincup – to knock off a lofty perch. No pressure or anything…

He will run a one-off #66 XBOX Falcon at the final round in Sydney, before next year hopping in the #17 Falcon. But this leaves a question: what of DJR’s 2nd car? Currently it is the #16 driven by the seriously talented Scott Pye, a man who has dragged this car into the top-5 and top-10 many times this year when it had no right to be there. Penske head of competition Tim Cindric has previously given no hint on who will be Ambrose’s teammate or whether he will have one at all – although you can’t imagine the Captain will be short on sponsors willing to fund a 2nd car. Cindric has only previously stated they are only looking for ‘proven race winners’. That seems to eliminate Pye, despite his storming form. So who else? Some have speculated perhaps a single-car holding pattern for 2015 before Craig Lowndes moves over after his Triple 8 contract expires in 2016. And there is some weight to that theory – Lowndes has often had to play second fiddle to Whincup, and a Lowndes/Ambrose all-star lineup would have the fans drooling and Holden running scared. Shane Van Gisbergen would also be an intriguing prospect, although he seems settled at the plucky underdogs Tekno Autosport.

So who then? Well I heard the other day Fernando Alonso pulled up to a karting event in a brand new Ford Falcon…