Just one seat left: 2021 grid takes shape

Just one seat remains to be filled on the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship grid, six weeks out from the start of the new season.

On Saturday, David Reynolds was confirmed alongside Andre Heimgartner at Kelly Grove Racing, which welcomes new investment from Stephen Grove’s multi-faceted business.

The 2017 Bathurst winner replaces Rick Kelly, who retired from full-time competition at the end of the 2020 season.

The second Team Sydney slot alongside Fabian Coulthard is the only remaining vacant seat.

It has been a turbulent off-season, with Tickford Racing downsizing to three cars following the exit of Lee Holdsworth.

Tickford retained Cameron Waters, James Courtney and Jack Le Brocq, with the latter moving into the #5 Truck Assist entry.

Triple Eight enters 2021 with an unchanged line-up of Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup, who enter their sixth and 16th season with the Holden squad respectively.

Arch-rival Ford team Dick Johnson Racing welcomes Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale following the exits of Scott McLaughlin and Coulthard.

De Pasquale joined Reynolds in leaving Erebus, which has signed young guns Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki, both of whom previously co-drove for the team.

Team 18 and Walkinshaw Andretti United will take stable pairings into 2021, with Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye staying at Charlie Schwerkolt’s team, with WAU sticking with Bryce Fullwood and Chaz Mostert.

There was no change in the driving ranks for Brad Jones Racing, although the team now owns four Racing Entitlements Contracts after Tim Blanchard set up his own squad.

Nick Percat, Todd Hazelwood, Macauley Jones and Jack Smith all return for BJR, while former BJR driver Tim Slade returns to the grid with Blanchard’s new operation. Blanchard will also co-drive the #3 CoolDrive Mustang at Bathurst.

Matt Stone Racing has also tweaked its line-up, with 2020 SuperLite drivers Zane Goddard and Jake Kostecki to run full campaigns this year.

Garry Jacobson won’t return to the full-time MSR line-up, but has been linked to the second Team Sydney seat. Chris Pither and Alex Davison drove for the Tekno-led operation last year.

Cars will hit the track for official testing on the weekend of February 13-14 and the opening event of the year, the Mt Panorama 500 from 26-28 February.