NISSAN TO ADOPT ICONIC CASTROL PERKINS LIVERY
Iconic Perkins Castrol colours return – Photo: Supplied
Nissan Motorsport and Castrol have embraced the Supercars retro round with Rick Kelly’s Altima Supercar donning a classic 2002 Castrol Racing design for this weekend’s Sandown 500.
The iconic retro theme and a fan favourite pays tribute to the Castrol Perkins Racing entries of Russell Ingall, Steven Richards and Larry Perkins that competed across the 2002 V8 Supercars Championship.
The Castrol striking colours of red, green and white tic tac design scored a pair of podiums that year at the hands of Ingall and Richards.
The 2002 Castrol Racing livery has a strong emotional connection for Kelly who made his full-time Supercars debut in the same year.
“A lot of my memories of our sport are signposted by the Castrol cars that raced at that time”, said the 2006 Supercars Champion.
“This car is particularly special for me because 2002 was my first full-time year in the Championship. So itʼs quire surreal to see a car that I raced against, but with my name on it.
“Castrol is such an iconic brand in motorsport with a rich history and emotional connection with fans. We’ve had fans at every event this year support us because of Castrol which is an absolute honour.”
Perkins Engineering Team who raced the 2002 livery was transformed into Kelly Racing in 2009. To this day, current engine builders from the Perkins Engineering Team era still work at the Kelly owned squad, furthering the parallel with the iconic livery according to Kelly.
“When we started our Kelly Racing operation, we were in-part born out of the Perkins Engineering outfit, so it is a proud moment to represent that era with this special livery”.
Kelly, who currently sits seventh in the Drivers Championship coming into the weekend, will be joined by Super2 regular Garry Jacobson as the Supercars season launches into endurance mode.
Jacobson moved teams during the offseason, switching to the Nissan Altima in the second tier category, a move Kelly believes is an advantage for the rising star.
“Having Garry drive the Altima in Super2 will be a massive bonus for the enduros. He’s very quick and we both want the same things from the car. So I’m really excited at our potential for a good result.”
The Castrol Racing Altima and Kelly have had a considerable run of form in 2018 with multiple podiums, top four grid positions and an emotional home-track win in Winton.
Kelly has jumped from 18th in the Championship standings after race eight to seventh place by race 20 of the season, making him one of the recent biggest movers in the Championship.
The PIRTEK Enduro Cup begins Friday with the traditional Bathurst curtain-raiser, the Rabble.club Sandown 500.
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