Team Principal | Rick and Todd Kelly, Brenton Grove |
---|---|
Debut | 2009 |
Final Season | 2021 |
Round wins | 1 |
Pole positions | 6 |
2020 position | 9th (2760 pts) |
Kelly Grove Racing (formerly known as Kelly Racing and Nissan Motorsport) was an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team made its debut in 2009, and raced Holden VE Commodores until the end of the 2012 season. In 2013, the team switched to competing with Nissan Altimas, and was rebranded Nissan Motorsport.
Following the Nissan sponsorship concluding, the team was rebranded back to Kelly Racing in 2019. For 2020 Kelly Racing campaigned two Ford Mustang GTs in the championship. The team is based in the Melbourne suburb of Braeside. The team's current drivers are Andre Heimgartner and David Reynolds.
In 2019 the team expanded into the new TCR Australia Touring Car Series, running another four cars, a pair each of Opel Astra TCRs branded as Holden Astras and Subaru WRX STI TCRs. In 2021, the team was rebranded Kelly Grove Racing after the Grove Group bought a majority shareholding in the team.
Despite some initial hurdles, [1] the team was formed in 2009, [2] after several months of preparation. The two sons of the owners, Rick and Todd were lead drivers for 2009, with sponsorship from Jack Daniel's. Jack Perkins and Dale Wood (though later replaced by Mark McNally), were confirmed as drivers of the third and fourth Kelly Racing entries.
After a troubled relationship with Tom Walkinshaw, with whom they formed the HSV Dealer Team, team principals John and Margaret Kelly took their two V8 Supercar Racing Entitlement Contracts (RECs) to set up Kelly Racing, forcing Walkinshaw to find other RECs to run his second team in the championship.
With a decision by Holden to reduce support for most teams running their Commodore product in the series for 2009, [3] along with the impending economic crisis, [4] Larry Perkins chose to scale back his involvement in the sport through his Perkins Engineering team at the end of 2008. A deal was concluded that saw Perkins Engineering sell much of its hardware including cars to the new team, as well as provide engineering services with the functions gradually to be transferred to Kelly Racing. Many of the former Perkins Engineering transferred to Kelly Racing. Perkins also retained ownership of his RECs and was thus the entrant for the team's third and fourth cars.
Racing numbers were swapped so that the Kelly owned licences could make use of the #7 racing number, to suit major sponsor Jack Daniel's and their "Old Number 7" brand. This sponsorship had been carried over from Perkins Engineering, where Todd Kelly was previously using the #7 racing number.
The new team had its track debut at Winton Raceway on 3 March 2009, running the allowed 20-lap shakedown test for newly constructed cars in the V8 Supercar category, [2] which was declared a success by both Todd and Rick. Following this initial shakedown, the team appeared at the official category test day at the same circuit on 9 March 2009, where all four cars appeared. [5] [6]
The team's first race was the 2009 Clipsal 500. The two Kelly brothers finished in the top ten in the first race, [7] Todd in 7th and Rick in 10th, after starting 24th and 17th respectively. [8] Wood, who did not set a qualifying time after a crash in practice, finished 14th after starting from pitlane. Perkins failed to finish due to badly damaged steering caused by brushing the wall. Rick was the only one of the four drivers to finish the second race, again in 10th place. [9] Todd Kelly and Jack Perkins both inflicted steering damage from contact with other cars while Dale Wood spun into the wall. The team left the weekend with Rick Kelly 8th in the championship standings, Todd Kelly in 16th, Dale Wood in 24th and Jack Perkins in 30th. [10] Todd made the following comment on the team's first weekend: "Getting an event under our belt, we've now got pages and pages of things we need to address and improve on. This is our first race as a brand new team so given that, I think the weekend wasn't too bad."
Todd and Rick achieved numerous top ten results as the season went on, the best being Rick's 4th places at Winton and Hidden Valley, while Perkins and Wood struggled. Wood was replaced by Mark McNally from the Townsville round onwards.
Todd and Rick teamed up in the #7 car for the endurances races at Phillip Island and Bathurst with Nathan Pretty and Ben Collins driving the #15 car. Dale Wood returned to the driving seat to partner Jack Perkins in the #11 car while Tony Ricciardello joined Mark McNally in the #16 car. The Kelly brothers finished fifth in the L&H 500 after Todd won one of the qualifying races. [11] Bet 24/7 came on board as major sponsor for the #11 car before Bathurst, with Perkins and Wood running #247 for the Bathurst weekend. Todd and Rick Kelly were running in second place with only a handful of laps to go in the Bathurst 1000, but a damaged rear wing and a late safety car led to the brothers finishing in eighth place. [12]
Perkins reverted to #11 for the remainder of the season. The team scored its first podium finish at the Island 300, which turned out to be the first in a hat-trick of podiums for the team, with Rick finishing third and second at Phillip Island and Todd finishing second in race one at Barbagallo. The final championship standings saw Rick Kelly finish in eighth, Todd Kelly in 18th, Jack Perkins in 26th, Dale Wood in 29th and Mark McNally in 30th. Jack Daniel's Racing (#7 and #15) finished sixth in teams' championship with Kelly Racing (#11 and #16) in 13th and last of the two car teams.
In 2010 Jason Bargwanna and Tony Ricciardello joined the team.
Rick took the team's first pole position at Winton but did not manage a win. Only one podium result came out of 2010, Rick finishing third in the rain-affected first race of the Sydney 500.
For the endurance races, Rick and Todd were not allowed to pair up due to new regulations regarding endurance co-drivers. Owen Kelly, of no relation to the two brothers, joined Rick in the #15 car while Dale Wood drove with Todd. Ricciardello was partnered by Taz Douglas while two-time Australian touring car champion Glenn Seton partnered Bargwanna. Rick and Owen had a strong run at the Phillip Island 500, finishing fourth after needing to conserve fuel at the end of the race, while the other three cars all finished outside the top fifteen. The team had a disappointing Bathurst, with none of the cars finishing in the top ten, the best result 16th place for Rick and Owen.
The team hired Scott Dixon and Alex Tagliani as its international drivers for the Gold Coast 600, Dixon driving with Todd Kelly and Tagliani with Bargwanna. Owen Kelly remained with Rick and Wood moved into the #16 car with Ricciardello. It proved to be another average weekend, with Rick and Owen again providing the best result, a sixth place in race two.
The final championship standings saw Rick and Todd repeat their 2009 efforts, finishing eighth and 18th respectively. Bargwanna ended up 24th and Ricciardello was 26th. Jack Daniel's Racing was fifth in the teams' championship and Kelly Racing was 11th.
The Jack Daniel's Racing drivers remained the same for 2011, but two new drivers were hired for Kelly Racing, Greg Murphy [13] and David Reynolds. [14]
2011 was the team's most successful season to date. Rick Kelly scored the team's first race win in wet conditions at the Hamilton 400. [15] Todd made it an extra special day by finishing in third place despite having a broken windscreen wiper. Rick won a further two races, with a win in Darwin at Hidden Valley and a win at Sandown later in the season, placing 6th in the championship. Todd for a third year straight placed 18th in the series, Reynolds impressed on his return to V8 Supercars, with numerous top ten qualifying efforts and two top five race results, eventually placing 19th. Murphy placed a respectable 13th in the Pepsi Max Holden.
For the endurance races, the team signed David Russell, Allan Simonsen, Owen Kelly and Tim Blanchard to drive with the team, with Russell joining Todd in Car #7, Simonsen joining Murphy in car #11, Owen Kelly joining Rick in #15 and Blanchard pairing up with Reynolds in #16. For the Gold Coast 600, the team signed Richard Westbrook to drive with Todd, Oliver Gavin to drive with Murphy, Jörg Bergmeister to drive with Rick and Alex Tagliani to join Reynolds. At Phillip Island, all cars finished in the top 15, with car #16 the best in 6th. At Bathurst, a fifth car was entered, the #77 Shannons-Mars Racing Commodore, with Grant Denyer and Cameron Waters driving the car. Car #11 claimed Pole position, with #16 qualifying in 4th, the Jack Daniels cars qualified in 16th and 19th, car #77 qualified 29th and Last. Murphy and Simonsen eventually finished 11 seconds behind the winners in 3rd position, with car #16 finishing in 19th, Car #15 placing 22nd and Car #7 placing 24th, some 7 laps down on Murphy and Simonsen, the fifth car of Denyer and Waters did not finish.
2012 started with the announcement that they would switch to Nissan for 2013 making them the first team to change manufacturers for the new regulations.
In January 2013 the RECs of Larry Perkins were purchased for the third and fourth entries. [16] For 2013 the team was rebranded as Nissan Motorsport. Michael Caruso and James Moffat were recruited to drive the third and fourth entries.
All four drivers continued with the team in 2014. After the 2014 Season, Norton ended their title sponsorship of the Moffat and Caruso entries.
For 2015, the Norton inspired race numbers, #36 and #360, were replaced, with Caruso changing to Nissan's traditional #23 (a wordplay on the marque itself, "ni" meaning two and "san" meaning three) and Moffat to #99. Jack Daniels also downsized their sponsorship to just the #15 car of Rick Kelly, with Carsales replacing Jack Daniels on the #7 car of Todd Kelly.
Moffat left the team at the end of 2015 with Dale Wood returning to the team. [17] Caruso won a race for the team at Hidden Valley. The Team also ran a fifth entry in the Bathurst 1000, with Renee Gracie and Simona de Silvestro driving the #360 Harvey Norman Supergirls Altima. The entry placed 14th.
In 2017, Dale Wood was replaced by Simona de Silvestro. [18] Todd Kelly, Rick Kelly and Michael Caruso remained with the team.
For 2018, Todd Kelly retired and was replaced by Andre Heimgartner. Rick Kelly, Michael Caruso and Simona de Silvestro continued with the team.
Following the termination of Nissan's sponsorship, in 2019 the team resumed operating under the Kelly Racing brand. [19] The team will continue to compete with the Nissan Altima under licence from the company. [20] [21]
In 2020 the team scaled back to two cars and switched to running Ford Mustang GTs. [22] The surplus RECs were sold to Team 18 and Matt Stone Racing.
The team was rebranded as Kelly Grove Racing, after the Grove Group bought a 50% shareholding. [23] [24]
Rick Kelly announced his retirement at the end of 2020, he was replaced by David Reynolds who returned to the team. Reynolds brought sponsorship from Penrite, with the car changing to #26 (representing 1926, the year in which Penrite was founded) [25] and his Race Engineer Alistair McVean. Andre Heimgartner continued with the team in car #7.
In 2022, Grove Group will take 100% ownership with the team rebranded Grove Racing. Neither Kelly will continue their involvement with the team. [26]
The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in V8 Supercars, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team in an endurance race co-driver basis are listed in italics.
The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in Super2 Series, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team in an endurance race co-driver basis are listed in italics.
Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team, initially branded as the Holden Racing Team, used to field Holden Commodores in the Supercars Championship before making the switch to Ford Mustangs for the 2023 season. The two cars are currently driven by Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert.
Russell Ingall is a former full-time Australian V8 Supercar driver. He won his V8 Supercars title in 2005, and finished second in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004. Ingall has also won the Bathurst 1000, in 1995 and 1997. His particular driving style earned him the nickname "Enforcer".
Todd Kelly is a retired Australian professional racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He is the older brother of fellow Supercars driver and former Bathurst 1000 winner, Rick Kelly. He drove for the Holden Racing Team from 2003 until 2007, and Perkins Engineering in 2008. Since 2009, he has been with his family team Kelly Racing. He is the youngest driver to have reached 100 starts in the series.
Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the team has competed in a variety of touring car series in Australia ranging from relatively modest Nissan production cars to Chevrolet NASCAR race cars to building the GT specification Holden Monaro 427C. The team won the Bathurst 1000 in 2000 and also won both of the Bathurst 24 Hour races which were held in 2002 and 2003. In 2013 the team celebrated its 50th year in racing since Rogers made his debut.
Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team owned by Brad Jones based in Albury. The team competes in the Supercars Championship and the Super2 Series. Recently they have also returned to Australian Formula Ford where Brad and Kim began their careers. The team is the only rurally based Supercars team. The team's current drivers are Andre Heimgartner, Macauley Jones, Bryce Fullwood, and Jack Smith.
Rod Nash Racing is a Supercars Championship racing entity, owned by Rod Nash. Nash co-owns Tickford Racing and since 2018, Rod Nash Racing has run under the Tickford name.
Jack Perkins is an Australian motor racing driver who competes in the Pirtek Enduro Cup. He currently co-drives with Will Brown in the No. 9 Holden ZB Commodore for Erebus Motorsport. He is the son of retired Australian race driver and former team owner Larry Perkins, in whose team Perkins Engineering, he drove between 2006 and 2008. Initially competing as an endurance race only driver in 2006, in 2007 Perkins graduated to the full-time drive in the No. 11 Perkins Engineering car, the number made famous in Australian racing by his father.
Michael Caruso is an Australian professional motor racing driver. Caruso competes in the Pirtek Enduro Cup, co-driving a Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6 for Team 18 alongside Mark Winterbottom.
The 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series was the eleventh V8 Supercar Championship Series and the thirteenth series in which V8 Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title. It began on 19 March at the Clipsal 500 on the streets of Adelaide and ended on 6 December at the Homebush Street Circuit and consisted of 26 races over 14 events which were held in all states and the Northern Territory of Australia as well as New Zealand. The 50th Australian Touring Car Championship title was awarded to the winner of the series by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.
Dale Wood is an Australian racing driver who currently co-drives for Brad Jones Racing's No. 8 Holden ZB Commodore in the Pirtek Enduro Cup. He currently resides in Melbourne, Victoria. He commenced his full-time V8 Supercar career in 2009 with the newly formed team Kelly Racing team, having raced previously for the Tasman Motorsport aligned Greg Murphy Racing Fujitsu series squad. Wood was replaced after the Hidden Valley round although he returned to the team for the endurance race season, pairing up with Jack Perkins. He returned to the team a year later, again in an endurance race role.
The 2009 L&H 500 was the Race 17 of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 11 to 13 September at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria, Australia. This was the ninth running of the Phillip Island 500 and the second time that Phillip Island had served as the venue for the annual 500 kilometre two-driver V8 Supercar endurance race. Unique to this event, two preliminary 14 lap Qualifying Races were held on Saturday with the two drivers of each car starting one race each. A single pitstop by each car in either race was mandated with the combined results of the two races determining the grid for the main 500 kilometre race. The three races all carried championship points and together constituted "Race 17" of the championship. However the finishing positions at the end of the 500 km race were deemed to be the finishing positions of the "2009 L&H 500" regardless of the total points scored by drivers over the three individual races.
The 2009 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was a motor race for V8 Supercars. It was the thirteenth running of the Australian 1000 race, first held after the organisational split over the Bathurst 1000 that occurred in 1997. It is the 52nd race tracing its lineage back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 held at Phillip Island.
The 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series was an FIA sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the twelfth V8 Supercar Championship Series and the fourteenth series in which V8 Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title. The championship began on 19 February in the Middle East at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit and concluded on 5 December at the Homebush Street Circuit. These events were held in all states of Australia and in the Northern Territory as well as in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and New Zealand. The 51st Australian Touring Car Championship title was awarded to the winner of the Drivers Championship by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.
The 2011 International V8 Supercar Championship was an FIA sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the thirteenth V8 Supercar Championship Series and the fifteenth series in which V8 Supercars contested the premier Australian touring car title. It was the first since the series was elevated to the 'International category' status by the FIA. The championship began on 10 February in the Middle East at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit and finished on 4 December at the Homebush Street Circuit. It was contested over 28 races at 14 events. These events were held in all states of Australia and in the Northern Territory as well as in the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand. The 52nd Australian Touring Car Championship title was awarded to Jamie Whincup by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.
David Wall is an Australian racing driver competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship. He currently drives the No. 38 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup for Wall Racing.
The 2013 International V8 Supercars Championship was a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile-sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars that was based in Australia. It was the fifteenth running of the V8 Supercar Championship Series and the seventeenth series in which V8 Supercars contested the premier Australian touring car title. The championship was contested over thirty-six races, starting with the Clipsal 500 Adelaide on 2 March 2013, and finishing with the Sydney 500 on 8 December. The series' calendar also expanded, travelling to the United States for the first time for a race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
The 2014 International V8 Supercars Championship was an FIA-sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the sixteenth running of the V8 Supercars Championship and the eighteenth series in which V8 Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title.
The 2015 International V8 Supercars Championship was an FIA-sanctioned international auto racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the seventeenth running of the V8 Supercar Championship Series and the nineteenth series in which V8 Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title.
The 2016 International V8 Supercars Championship was an FIA-sanctioned international motor racing series for Supercars. It was the eighteenth running of the Supercars Championship and the twentieth series in which Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title.
The 2018 Supercars Championship was an FIA-sanctioned international motor racing series for Supercars. It was the twentieth running of the Supercars Championship and the twenty-second series in which Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title. Teams and drivers competed in thirty-one races at sixteen venues across Australia and New Zealand for the championship titles. Scott McLaughin won his maiden title at the final race in Newcastle, while Red Bull Holden Racing Team won the Teams Championship at Pukekohe.