New tech boss for Team 18, engineer for Winterbottom

Team 18 has continued to bolster its off-track efforts, signing a Bathurst-winning engineer to its ranks for the 2024 season.

The Charlie Schwerkolt-owned squad welcomes Dr Geoff Slater and Som Sharma to the team for the next season, having signed Adrian Burgess as Team Principal.

Slater, who recently departed PremiAir Racing, has joined Team 18 as its new Technical Director and will be on the ground at the team’s pre-season test day on Wednesday February 7.

He has previously held senior engineering roles with the likes of Britek Motorsport, Dick Johnson Racing, Tekno Autosports, Walkinshaw Andretti United and, most recently, PremiAir Racing. 

Slater also engineered victories at the 2016 Bathurst 1000 and 2016 Bathurst 12 Hour, both for Tekno Autosports. In 2019 and 2020, he also won the GTLM class at the Daytona 24 Hour with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Sharma joins as Race Engineer for Mark Winterbottom’s #18 DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro, with Richard Hollway to engineer the incoming David Reynolds on the #20 TRADIE Beer Racing Camaro.

The 2024 season will be Sharma’s first as a race engineer in Supercars. He previously worked for the category, as well as a stint in Europe with Leomax Engineering GmbH, representing the FIA and DMSB in technical and scrutinising capacities at the likes of Formula 2, Formula 3 and DTM.

"I'm thrilled to reveal our revamped engineering lineup for the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship solidified with these major recruitments,” Schwerkolt said.

“With our skilled crew and the engineering firepower we’ve got, we’re pumped to get to work and put together a package for Frosty and Dave to contend this year.”

Burgess, who started with the team last week, added: "Joining Team 18 as the new Team Principal is an exciting challenge, and I'm confident in the capabilities of our newly formed engineering group. 

“It’s a great coup to recruit Geoff Slater as Technical Director, and alongside our dedicated team of engineers and mechanics we're ready to hit the ground running and compete at the highest level."

Slater was keen to head up the Melbourne squad’s technical side, with Team 18 winning its first race last year courtesy of Winterbottom in Darwin.

"I'm honoured to join Team 18 and contribute to the development of their engineering group,” Slater said.

“We have two drivers who are extremely strong with their feedback and experience in developing cars, alongside a talented engineering group with the likes of Richard Hollway and a skilled group around him.

"I’m excited to get to work and push this team to greater heights.”

Team 18 will reveal the livery of Reynolds’ TRADIE Beer Camaro and Winterbottom’s DEWALT Camaro on February 6 and 7 respectively, before the team hits the track for testing at Winton on Wednesday February 7.

The new season will commence at the Thrifty Bathurst 500 on February 23-25. Tickets are on sale now.