More than a team: DJR CEO on business, Brodie and blunt conversations

As far as baptisms of fire come, Megan Foster has started life at the helm of the Shell V-Power Racing Team at breakneck speed.

Brodie Kostecki has won five races, claimed the championship lead, had a high-profile clash with the reigning champion, lost the lead, and lost ground — all in five rounds.

Whirlwind is an understatement, yet Foster has quietly and calmly taken the reins of Supercars’ most historic team, which looks closer than ever at returning to championship glory.

Who is Megan Foster?

Search Megan Foster, and you can find the basics: she joined Dick Johnson Racing off the back of corporate experience at the likes of Viva Energy, MYER and Unilever.

She was Executive Manager at Bapcor, leading the Autobarn, Autopro and Midas Retail businesses, before joining the Shell V-Power Racing Team.

Beyond retail and high-profile brands, though, Foster has never been far from racing: she began life in rural New South Wales in Wellington, nearly two hours north of Bathurst.

“My dad was a mad racing fan, it was my blood. If we didn't go to Bathurst, then we'd spend all day inside watching Bathurst,” Foster said.

“I grew up with it, which is part of the DNA of a lot of our true race fans. I’d always taken an interest — I was probably more a Dick Johnson and Allan Moffat fan than Peter Brock.

“I went off and did a business/commerce degree, and years down the track when I landed at Viva and Shell, I spent a lot of time understanding what was a pretty big investment on behalf of that brand.”

The DJR background

Her time with Viva Energy, the Shell licensee in Australia, opened the door to DJR and Supercars.

Once a kid who watched Bathurst, Foster was trackside rubbing shoulders with some of Supercars’ heavyweights.

“As a fan, you watch it, but I think when you're actually standing in the garage and understanding what goes into it, it catches your eye,” Foster explained.

“Dick and Ryan [Story] were always very welcoming, and now the Ralphs, and I was even lucky enough to get to know Roger Penske.

"Just seeing how they operated, the level of professionalism, it proved that there's alignment between how you run businesses and how you go about running a race team.

“As I got to know the team, I started to really understand the inner workings. I really took an interest from there.”

The opportunity

There was no guarantee Foster would end up in the Supercars paddock, despite her ties to racing.

However, her story changed. When David Noble’s departure was announced, DJR embarked on an extensive and thorough process to find its next CEO.

The team was drawn to Foster given her wide ranging experience and understanding of the Shell V-Power Racing Team brand. In a landmark moment for DJR and Supercars, she became the first CEO of the famous Ford team.

“While I was part of the team for quite a long time through sponsorship, I never really contemplated joining the team. But from a career perspective and lifestyle perspective, things have evolved for me,” Foster said.

“We talked about at the end of last year once David was moving on, and after some conversations, I went, ‘Okay, maybe this could be a good fit’.

“It's a big commitment. A lot of these guys have done it for years, and you're away a lot of the year. You've got to be at that stage of your life that that works for you and you can make that commitment, and I felt I'm in a great place that I could do that.

“Given where they wanted to go and what they needed to do from a commercial perspective, it worked.”

Her experience

When DJR announced Foster, the team stated: "Her experience across brands with a large motorsport footprint also allows her to bring that experience and industry knowledge to Shell V-Power Racing Team,” and that her "experience across retail and high-profile brands will allow the team the opportunity to further enhance its already strong partner network and grow its commercial footprint through new revenue opportunities.”

Those points are pertinent — race teams aren’t just race teams, they’re businesses. They need to be healthy.

In recent years, the likes of the Groves and Tickford Racing CEO Simon Brookhouse have brought new business expertise to a grid otherwise dominated by former mechanics and drivers.

“There are a couple of people in the paddock now that have business backgrounds, like Simon. They take control of a lot of the commercial aspects of the business and maintain the health of the business,” Foster said.

"I've done ASX, I've done founder-led, I've done small businesses, small cap, large cap. The reason this is working is because I have a huge amount of respect for the owners, and I have a relationship with the owners.

"Ryan has actually run the team before, he owns part of the team now. He's an incredible person in terms of his knowledge of motorsport, what he brings in terms of technical and business knowledge. There’s Dick, who at heart, is a racer. And then you've got the Ralph brothers, who are incredibly astute businesspeople.

“What stimulates me is I've got a combination of owners who trust me to come in and actually do what needs to be done, and really put the team first on what needs to happen in the team rather than about me as an individual.

“My job is to deliver shareholder value, but on top of that, there’s a real passion. You need to bring the fans with you, because it's not just about delivering the results for the drivers and the team, it's actually delivering the result for the fans."

No hiding

Foster insists DJR is a “hands-on” operation. She may be CEO, but she’s flat out on race weekends, be it leading pit tours, or getting lunches.

The last 18 months have been a period of change for the team, while has welcomed several new faces alongside Kostecki from the start of 2025. For Foster, getting everyone on the same page is crucial.

“Results are all about planning. On last year, my observation would be it was a changing year with bringing people in. We had really great people come into the business,” Foster said.

“This is a people business. When you bring new people together, you need to make sure that those people are gelling together."

Ultimately, Foster is in charge of a race team. As mentioned, 2026 has been helter skelter for DJR. No incident got tongues wagging quite like the Kostecki/Chaz Mostert clash in Christchurch. That put both drivers and their respective teams under the blowtorch.

Foster wants to have all the right pieces in place to ensure the drivers and the team can move forward. That means tackling everything head-on.

“Like any business, you're observing conflict and tension, but the reality is, they're racing race cars, and these are race car drivers,” Foster said.

“You do need to really understand what makes that tick. We have an incredibly talented race car driver in Brodie who has proven performance — he is a champion and Bathurst winner. He's incredibly focused.

“Over the years in the garage, I’ve come to know Scotty [McLaughlin], Will [Davison], Anton [De Pasquale], Fabian [Coulthard]. Every driver is different. How you build the team around that driver, to make sure they can deliver the very best performance on the day, is crucial.

“In today’s competitive era, we're now down to the one percenters. Things that you can make a difference in — teamwork, culture, a feedback loop to challenge each other — creates a well-oiled machine.

“You don't get better if you don't actually have some tough conversations. You've got to have an environment where Brodie or Rylan can come into the garage and have a pretty blunt conversation."

The goal

When asked if a key part of her remit was to deliver championship glory back to DJR, Foster quickly replied: “We're very focused on that. That’s why you turn up.

“Unlike other roles where you have competing priorities or you have whole lot of objectives, the objectives are pretty clear here.

“Everything I do behind the scenes is around delivering what we need to make this machine work. You need sponsors and you need partners. You need to make sure the business is in good financial health. The drivers need resources, Mark and the engineers need resources.

“It’s about taking all the noise away to make sure the team goes out on the weekend and delivers on track.

“At DJR, you're part of something that's more than just a race team."