WHICH TEAM HAS THE LONGEST TRUCK PARTNERSHIP IN SUPERCARS?
The Repco Supercars Championship teams don’t always stick with the same truck brand for long, but a couple of iconic partnerships live on
Last week, we looked at five truck manufacturers that have left the Repco Supercars Championship paddock over the last five years. And it generated plenty of discussion around which truck brands Australian motorsport fans want to see return to the sharp end of a B-Double Supercars transporter.
Today, we’re putting a different spin on things. In this article, we’re looking at how long each Supercars team has represented their current truck brand. But before we get stuck into this story, it’s worth mentioning that not all the teams are directly associated with the manufacturer. We’re only considering the badge on the prime mover at the front of the race transporter.
So, here are all the Supercars teams and truck brands presented from longest connection to shortest.
Kelly Grove Racing/Mack Trucks – 12 years
Kelly Grove Racing’s Mack Super-Liner B-Double
This is easily the longest truck partnership in the Repco Supercars Championship paddock, currently in its 12th year and counting. It began back in 2010, when Kelly Racing switched from a pair of Western Star prime movers to a Mack Trident for the Jack Daniels duo, and a Volvo FH for the entries of Jason Bargwanna and Tony Ricciardello.
The Jack Daniels side of the garage switched from a Mack Trident to a Mack Super-Liner in 2013, and then a second Super-Liner joined the team for the B-Double transporter of Michael Caruso and James Moffat in 2015. The popular Mack Super-Liner B-Double duo hauled the Braeside outfit’s gear until it downsized to two cars at the start of 2020. However, one of these black Mack Super-Liners continues to pull the Kelly Grove Racing Ford Mustangs around Australia.
The big question is, will the Mack Super-Liner stay in Supercars as the team’s ownership transitions to Grove Group in 2022?
Brad Jones Racing/Freightliner – 8 years
Image: Paul Eddy/Stax Freightliner
Image: TRaction Photography
When it comes to iconic team and truck partnerships in modern-day Supercars, it’s hard to look past the Brad Jones Racing and Freightliner pairing. This partnership dates back to the start of 2014, when the Albury squad switched from a pair of CAT prime movers to two Freightliner Argosy cabovers.
The Argosy duo handled transport duties until 2017, when the team acquired a bonneted Freightliner Coronado for its B-Double transporter, and retained one Argosy for the Team Cooldrive single trailer transporter. The team even carried primary Freightliner sponsorship on Tim Slade’s Commodore and the B-Double trailer set in 2017, and then Alliance Truck Parts backing under the Daimler brand in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Now a four-car operation, the Freightliner Coronado and Argosy pairing continue to haul Brad Jones Racing’s equipment to every Repco Supercars Championship race meeting. And thousands follow the Freightliner Coronado B-Double’s trips to the track on the Stax Freightliner Facebook and Instagram accounts run by popular Australian motorsport truckie, Paul Eddy.
Dick Johnson Racing/MAN – 7 years
Image: Wayne Cowper
In the early 2010s, the famed Dick Johnson Racing outfit was known for a pair of Kenworth trucks, and then two Scania prime movers. But as a partnership with Roger Penske loomed, the Stapylton squad acquired an MAN TGX to cart the Ford Falcon FGX of Marcos Ambrose (then Scott Pye) for the 2015 season. And they’ve stuck with the Penske-distributed brand ever since, even with the departure of the American motorsport icon from Supercars at the end of 2020.
The team currently runs an MAN TGX 580 prime mover with an XXL cab. This truck has been in service since 2019.
Team 18/Kenworth – 6 years
Image: Kenworth Australia/PACCAR
The Mount Waverley race team has only ever run Kenworth prime movers since entering the Supercars Championship in 2016. The team initially depended on a Kenworth K200 to haul Lee Holdsworth’s Preston Hire Commodore around Australia. But now, it’s all about the bonnet.
Charlie Schwerkolt’s squad acquired a new Kenworth T610 for the 2018 season, which put in three seasons of work including the expansion from one car to two in 2020. And now, Team 18 runs the flagship truck in Kenworth’s Australian line-up; a brand-new T909. We can’t see a switch to another brand coming any time soon, with the Team 18 rig ranking among the most popular race transporters in Australia.
Matt Stone Racing/Mercedes-Benz – 3 years
Matt Stone Racing’s Mercedes-Benz rig at The Bend Motorsport Park
Matt Stone Racing entered the Repco Supercars Championship with an aging cabover Kenworth, but soon switched to a Daimler Trucks Gold Coast-supplied Mercedes-Benz Actros after just three rounds of the 2019 Supercars season. And in doing so, they brought Mercedes-Benz back to the Supercars paddock after a two-year absence.
The Daimler connection has continued into 2021, with the team upgrading to a Mercedes-Benz Actros 2658LS at the beginning of this year with NTI backing.
Team Sydney – TEKNO/MAN – 3 years
Team Sydney - TEKNO’s MAN TGX 580 B-Double
TEKNO kept Western Star in the sport until early 2019, following a long association with the American truck brand. However, Penske Commercial Vehicles and Penske Power Systems Brisbane teamed up to secure an MAN TGX 580 PerformanceLine prime mover for TEKNO early in the 2019 season.
That truck is well into its third year, hauling the Holden Commodore entries of Fabian Coulthard and Garry Jacobson under the Team Sydney – TEKNO banner.
Tickford Racing/Kenworth – 2 years
Tickford Racing’s Kenworth K200 pair
With the IVECO-distributed International brand struggling to make inroads into the Australian heavy duty truck market, and Truck Assist signing on as a major sponsor of the team, Tickford Racing made the switch to a pair of brand-spanking-new Kenworth K200 trucks at the beginning of the 2020 Supercars season.
The partnership was built on NTI’s close association with Kenworth Australia, which saw a deal struck for the Truck Assist-branded Kenworth K200 prime movers to pull the Campbellfield squad’s two B-Double trailer sets.
Walkinshaw Andretti United/Kenworth – 2 years
Image: Walkinshaw Andretti United
Walkinshaw Andretti United’s long association with Scania came to an end at the conclusion of the 2019 season, replaced by a Palm Trans-provided Kenworth K200 – the third to join the Supercars paddock that season.
This is the second year of the Palm Trans partnership, yielding a new Kenworth K200 Big Cab for the Clayton squad at the beginning of this year with only 162 kilometres on the clock.
Erebus Motorsport/Mercedes-Benz – 2 years
Erebus Motorsport’s Mercedes-Benz Actros transporter
Erebus Motorsport and Mercedes-Benz are a familiar duo in Australian motorsport, and that extends to the trucks they’ve used for race car transport. Erebus used Mercedes-Benz prime movers during the height of its Mercedes-Benz E63 assault, before switching to a Freightliner Argosy and then an MAN TGX in the post E-Class era.
However, thanks to a deal struck with Queensland-based Griffith Corporation at the beginning of 2020, the two-car team is once again using a Mercedes-Benz Actros. This is the second year of the Griffith Corporation partnership, with the team’s Mercedes-Benz Actros-led B-Double race hauler transporting the entries of Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki.
Red Bull Ampol Racing/Mercedes-Benz – 1 year
Image: Red Bull Ampol Racing
After a six-year partnership with IVECO Australia, Red Bull Ampol Racing revealed the only truck brand switch of the 2021 season thanks to a new partnership with Daimler Trucks Australia. The truck we saw at Bathurst and Sandown was a Mercedes-Benz Actros loaned to the Banyo team by Daimler, before Jamie Whincup picked up the team’s brand-new Actros 2663 in early April.
This is the third Mercedes-Benz Actros to join the Repco Supercars Championship paddock in as many years, reflecting the German marque’s growing share of the Australian market.
Blanchard Racing Team/Kenworth – 1 year
Blanchard Racing Team’s Kenworth K200 B-Double in Port Melbourne
There isn’t much history to go from with Blanchard Racing Team, but its Kenworth K200 has made a strong impression on truck fans in its first year on tour. The Blanchard Kenworth is the fourth Kenworth K200-ked transporter in the paddock, joining the Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United squads rocking the Bayswater-built cabover.
As revealed by Supercars last month, the Blanchard K200 B-Double is being piloted by the team’s co-owner, John Blanchard, who is also the CEO of Cooldrive Auto Parts. Businessman by day, motorsport truckie by both day and night!
What’s your favourite truck brand in the Repco Supercars Championship paddock? We’d love to hear your thoughts on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.