Team 18 appoints Burgess as Team Principal
Outgoing Supercars motorsport boss Adrian Burgess joins Team 18
Burgess reunites with Charlie Schwerkolt following 2010 title win
Burgess and Schwerkolt were instrumental in James Courtney's title
Team 18 has appointed Adrian Burgess as its new Team Principal, with the outgoing Supercars Head of Motorsport joining the team in 2024.
Burgess, who has been the championship’s motorsport boss since 2018, will join Team 18, effective February 1, 2024. It comes after outgoing Tickford Racing boss Tim Edwards was confirmed to success Burgess at Supercars from next season.
The Briton’s arrival at Team 18 will see Burgess reunite with team owner Charlie Schwerkolt, with the duo key to James Courtney’s championship win in 2010. Burgess headed up Dick Johnson Racing when Courtney won the 2010 title, with Schwerkolt the car owner.
After a successful tenure in Formula One at McLaren, headlined by championship successes with Mika Häkkinen and Ayrton Senna, Burgess arrived in Supercars in the mid-2000s.
Burgess joined Triple Eight Race Engineering as Team Manager following his stint at DJR, overseeing Jamie Whincup's three consecutive championships from 2011 to 2013. He later completed stints at the Holden Racing Team and Tekno Autosports, before joining Supercars in 2018.
Burgess most recently played a key role in Supercars' latest technical regulations with Gen3, and will be at Team 18 as it welcomes David Reynolds alongside Mark Winterbottom, who won the team’s first race in Darwin in June.
His first assignment with Team 18 will be pre-season testing before the season-opening Bathurst 500 on February 23-25.
“It’s exciting to get the band back together with Charlie. We’ve achieved a lot together in the past and we both know we would like to achieve those heights again,” Burgess said.
"I’m not underestimating the size of the task, the competition is incredibly fierce and it’s one of the most competitive championships in the world. Team 18 overall is in a great shape, it showed that this year in Darwin.
"I’m looking forward to getting on deck, continuing their great culture and working cohesively with everyone to focus on aiming for podiums and consistent performances every weekend and ultimately get ourselves in a position where we can fight for championships, that’s the goal.”
Schwerkolt was excited to link up with Burgess again, 14 years after their defining success with Courtney and DJR.
“It’s incredibly exciting to welcome Adrian Burgess as Team Principal commencing early next year,” Schwerkolt said.
“I’m really pleased to reunite with Adrian, our history together goes back as far as 2006 a highlight being the championship success we celebrated together in 2010.
“This appointment is a great coup for the team and Adrian will be a valuable leader with the skills and experience to bring the results we are all striving for.
“There is a massive amount to achieve at Team 18 moving forwards, and I believe Adrian will be able to take the team to a new level and best position us for greater success in the years to come.”
Burgess is absent from this weekend’s VAILO Adelaide 500, but will oversee wind tunnel testing with the Gen3 prototypes in the United States next month. Paul Martin is acting Head of Motorsport this weekend.
