The odd co-driver precedent WAU looks set to follow

It's starting to feel like deja vu all over again at Walkinshaw Andretti United.

With Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood both locked in for 2026 as the former Holden factory squad embarks on a new beginning with Toyota, few would've expected the team to come up in silly season discussions.

Yet, that is exactly what has unfolded over the past few weeks, with young gun co-driver Jayden Ojeda looking set to get a long-awaited full-time opportunity with PremiAir Racing, which recently parted ways with James Golding.

Ojeda, who was a standout in both the Super3 and Dunlop Super2 Series from 2019 to 2021, has recently gone down the GT pathway as a Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver, however looks set to dovetail that role with Supercars commitments for next year at least.

WAU team principal Carl Faux didn't do anything to dispel the rumours when asked at the team representatives' press conference at The Bend, suggesting the path would be cleared for Ojeda to leave his co-driving contract.

"He's been a great driver for us previously, and he's with us for the enduros as we have a contract with both co-drivers actually," Faux told media.

"I think that we've shown previously, we're generally good people and if the opportunity arises for a co-driver to get a main game opportunity, then there's a discussion we'll have."

Such a situation came up at WAU only four years ago, in the aftermath of one of the team's finest hours in their illustrious history dating back to 1990.

Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth arrived with an absolute weapon of a car at the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000, with Mostert setting the fastest ever lap done by a Supercar in the Top Ten Shootout to claim a stunning pole.

Nothing could stop the pair on Sunday, not even a tyre delamination down Conrod Straight or masterful racecraft from Shane van Gisbergen, with the team breaking a 10-year win drought in devastating fashion.

It was sweet redemption for Holdsworth, who looked set to end his full-time career without a farewell as he was the odd one out amid Tickford's downsizing from four cars to three into that season.

However, Holdsworth's starring performance at Bathurst saw him once again enter the frame for an unlikely full-time return, which promptly came at Penrite Racing for 2022, giving Holdsworth a farewell season after all.

“While it’s certainly disappointing not to have Lee with us in 2022, we are rapt that he gets another full time opportunity on the grid next year, and we wouldn’t want to stand in the way of that," WAU CEO Bruce Stewart said when Holdsworth departed in December 2021.

“He certainly showed his talent in 2021, so is very deserving of this opportunity, and we look forward to competing against him full time next year.

“No one will forget what he and Chaz were able to do at Bathurst, helping us bring the Peter Brock Trophy back to Clayton, so we hope that we see him back in the WAU family once again in the future."

Wood and Ojeda shape as an intriguing combination for The Great Race, having not been able to show their full potential at The Bend through a Shootout error from Wood, and Ojeda being boxed around in the opening exchanges.

Some are even going so far as to pick the duo as a dark horse combination, with Ojeda having won two of the last three Bathurst 6 Hour production car races, and Wood emerging as one of Supercars' brightest young stars.

Though Ojeda might be at a different stage of his career to the one Holdsworth found himself in, he looks set to become the latest WAU enduro specialist to turn his enduro opportunity into something more.