Local hope wheeling and dealing his way to Super2 debut

Motor racing is not a cheap sport, especially for young stars rising through the ranks. Not only do you need the talent, but also the ability to play salesperson.

It's something Darwin local Rossi Johnson knows all too well, having to wheel and deal his way to a maiden DUNLOP Super2 Series start at his home event.

A front runner in both V8 SuperUtes and Aussie Racing Cars, Johnson will be behind the wheel of the #333 Holden Commodore run by Apogee Motorsport, who also step up from the SuperUtes.

Johnson has enlisted the support of several Darwin and Northern Territory businesses for his program, but admitted that he would still like more support for his two-round program, which will also entail the final round at Adelaide in November.

"We had one of our major backers pull out at the last minute, so there's been plenty of phone calls and emails this last week," the Territorian told Supercars.com.

"But the support from everyone in Darwin has been incredible, almost overwhelming. I'll get people stop me in the street, even pop their head over the fence and wish me luck.

"It's not that long ago that I was just a kid watching Craig Lowndes at Hidden Valley, and to think that I'll be out there next weekend is pretty surreal still."

It marks another chapter in what has already proved to be a busy campaign for the 23-year-old, who currently finds himself sixth in SuperUtes, and a joint points leader in Aussie Racing Cars.

Johnson is aiming to become just the third driver from the Northern Territory to compete in Supercars, and will follow in the footsteps of 2019 Super2 champion Bryce Fullwood.

It's the second opportunity Johnson has made work out of the blue this season, having only been scheduled to run in his third full year of SuperUtes after graduating from Toyota 86s following 2023.

"The opportunity came up pretty quickly to make the step up into Super2, and to do it with a team I'm familiar with in Apogee just makes it more comfortable," Johnson said.

"I'd said to the team that I would be keen to step up into Super2, seeing as though I want to be in Supercars one day, and they said that they wanted to step up as well.

"From there obviously we managed to lease the car from Image Racing and Terry Wyhoon, and it's just gone from there.

"Tested the car at Winton last week, and we'll have Terry and Jordy Boys helping us out at Darwin as well, so it'll be great to have their help as I get up to speed.

"Obviously we're in the SuperUte with Apogee as well, and the opportunity came up with Corish Motorsports to do the Aussie Racing Cars, and that was just meant to be a one-off to test the new engine.

"But we led the championship, so it was a case of we may as well keep going and try to win this thing."

Johnson is by far and away the most experienced driver at Hidden Valley on the Super2 grid, having made his first steps into car racing in Hyundai Excels and HQ Holdens in 2019.

However, he isn't expecting there to be a lasting advantage with his previous experience, with the one-line nature of Hidden Valley lending itself to both fast learning, and action-packed racing.

"The racing should be interesting I think. It's a very one-line track, so it's a pretty easy circuit to learn, I don't think home ground advantage will help me out too much," Johnson said.

"It's pretty hard to overtake unless you use your doors or your bumper, so that could get pretty interesting. We've seen Turn 1 is the key overtaking spot, so that could get pretty dicey, especially on the first lap."

Heat is also set to be a factor, as it was for the second race in Sydney, with temperatures in the mid-30s combining with extreme humidity to make for stifling conditions.

However, the dry heat of Darwin is traditionally a test on drivers, and something the local driver believes will push drivers across both 40 minute races.

"40 minutes in the heat, I've never done a race that long in my life. I think the biggest challenge will be keeping concentration up and minimising my mistakes," he said.

"I do a lot of boxing training up here, and that helps me with making quick decisions under pressure.

"I think you'll find that there could be a few guys who will struggle with the heat."

The aim of his debut weekend is to simply enjoy the experience of competing at his home event in a Supercar, with Johnson placing minimal performance goals, and acknowledging it will be a learning process.

"I don't want to put any expectations on myself for the weekend, I just want to go out and enjoy it," Johnson said.

"Getting one test day before the round means we didn't quite get everything done that we would've liked, but it is still important mileage. There will still be a lot of learning throughout practice in Darwin."

Johnson and Apogee come into the field for Masterton Motorsport and rookie Hamish Fitzsimmons. The remainder of the 20-car field is unchanged.