Rogers "open minded" on running three cars

Garry Rogers is considering his team's future as a three car Championship operation, after evaluating V8 Supercars Dunlop Series driver James Golding in the #33 Volvo S60 at Winton last week.

Nineteen-year old Golding is Rogers' latest discovery, and after an impressive start in this year's Dunlop Series category was granted the chance to steer Scott McLaughlin's Supercar for approximately 60 laps on Thursday.

While expanding his Volvo squad is far from a done deal, Rogers revealed to v8supercars.com.au the option was on the table, as he plans out his Wilson Security GRM team's long-term future.

"We're really open minded on that," Rogers said about running a third Championship entry for Golding, who is affectionately nicknamed 'Bieber' within the team.

"Our main idea of entering the Dunlop Series is to progress drivers ... the big picture plan would be that we continue on in the Dunlop Series, but if not we may look at expanding our operation and maybe introducing James into the main game."

Golding currently steers a Holden Commodore in the Dunlop Series - a GRM built car loaned from Dragon Motorsport - though GRM is a factory-backed Volvo team in the V8 Supercars Championship.

"We have no real desire to run more than two cars, but if the opportunity presented itself, particularly with the Volvo relationship... At this stage, we would stick with two, but I'm not saying we wouldn't run three, but I'm also not saying we'll put Bieber straight into the main series either.

"We're trying to plan our future a bit."

The evaluation day offers teams a chance to assess drivers other than their full-time and co-drivers, and Rogers was impressed with Golding's approach to the opportunity last week. Rogers has a reputation of giving chancesto up and coming V8 Supercars talents, having offeredGarth Tander, Jamie Whincup and current Volvo pilot Scott McLaughlin their first breaks into the category.

Formula Ford graduate Golding currently sits 15th in the series standings after two DNFs have hindered his campaign thus far. But his maturity, coupled with his talent, is what has prompted Rogers to include the former state and national karting champion in the team's long-term future - an attribute that was especially evident at the evaluation day.

"[On Thursday] he proved he's level-headed enough to not try and make a hero out of himself by trying to prove to us that he can drive... which is pretty important when we're trying to evaluate people," Rogers told v8supercars.com.au.

"It's his future too and in my opinion, we don't just put people in to drive our cars because we like the colour of their hair.

"I always knew that when I watched his performances in Formula Ford that he could drive a car, and he possesses the right attributes that we welcome in our team."

With the possibility of Golding returning to the second-tier category in 2016, Rogers hasn't ruled out campaigning the Volvo S60 in the Dunlop Series as the Next Generation V8 Supercars become eligible to run in the category next season.

"There would be a chance to do that," Rogers said of entering a Volvo in the Dunlop Series next season.

"We really could run a Volvo, but at this stage, I think we're probably more geared up to continue to run the Commodore."

The Dunlop Series resumes at the Castrol EDGE Townsville 400, July 10-12. Up-and-comer Cameron Waters leads veteran Paul Dumbrell in the points heading into the fourth round.