Newcastle Moffat's last full-time GRM start

The Coates Hire Newcastle 500 will be James Moffat’s last event as a full-time Supercars driver with Garry Rogers Motorsport.

Moffat joined the team - then running Volvos - in 2016 from Nissan, and will not continue beyond that two-year deal.

GRM’s latest protege, James Golding is expected to step up and drive alongside Garth Tander in 2018.

Moffat told Supercars.com in October that he was “on the market” for 2018 while waiting for clarity from GRM, but now knows he will not continue full-time.

He admits there may not be opportunities elsewhere beyond a PIRTEK Enduro Cup drive.

“It seems like there are limited main game opportunities from a full-time sense at the moment,” he told Supercars.com.

“I won’t be driving full-time for GRM full-time in 2018.

“Beyond Newcastle, I’m not sure what the future holds for me.

“If I can’t remain full-time in the championship, then clearly I’ll be looking to secure an enduro drive.”

Moffat contested a single enduro campaign, with Ford Performance Racing in 2010 while in Super2, before stepping up to a full-time role the following year with Dick Johnson Racing.

Asked if he had started discussions about a co-driver role, Moffat coyly said: “I might’ve spoken to a few teams.

“We’ll see how things pan out. I’d like to try to be in a position where I can go to those three races in a competitive car with a chance of being on the podium.

“But every co-driver on the market wants the same opportunity."

Results of 13th and ninth at Pukekohe means Moffat is 17th in the standings heading to Newcastle.

Moffat has spent the last two events in Richard Muscat’s Dunlop Super2 Series Commodore, but expects the get the chassis he crashed at Bathurst back for the season finale.

“I think the plan is to go back into my original car, which I know was all fixed before we came over to New Zealand,” he said.

“I think a couple of workshop crew will have already been starting to screw it back together.

“Newcastle is a new circuit for everybody, it’s a good opportunity for us to prepare as well as we can and hopefully have quick cars.

“It’d be nice to finish the year off as well as we can and go from there, really.”