RICK KELLY ENDS FULL-TIME SUPERCARS CAREER
Rick Kelly ends full-time Supercars career – Photo: InSyde Media
Rick Kelly has announced he is ending his full-time Supercars career.
The move is sure to increase speculation David Reynolds will move from Erebus Motorsport to Kelly Racing replace him in 2021.
See Mark Fogarty’s separate story on the erupting Supercars driver market here.
Kelly, the 37-year old two-time Bathurst winner and 2006 Supercars champion, intends to continue on racing in the category as an enduro co-driver although no deals have been announced.
The Mildura native has raced full-time in the category since 2002 when he ran under the Holden Young Lions program.
From 558 race starts in the Supercars championship he has claimed 13 race wins including Bathurst in 2003 and 2004 with Greg Murphy, 12 pole positions and 57 podium finishes.
Prior to his Supercars career Kelly finished second in the 2000 Australian Formula Ford Championship and first in the 2001 Australian Drivers’ Championship.
Kelly was a part of the Walkinshaw Racing empire from 2002 to 2008, before he and brother Todd established the family-owned Kelly Racing team.
While initially campaigning Holdens, the Melbourne-based team scored a huge coup when it secured factory backing from Nissan for the Car of the Future era and campaigned Altimas from 2013 to 2019.
The team downsized from four to two cars for 2020 and swapped from the aging Altima to the Ford Mustang.
Development of the new Ford has been handicapped because the team had to hit the road from July because of Victoria’s COVID-19 lockdown.
An early clutch failure meant Kelly’s last drive as a full-timer in the Bathurst 1000 this month was frustratingly unsuccessful. He and Dale Wood ended up in 17th place after repairs.
Kelly drove the Castrol Ford Mustang to 16th place in the 2020 Supercars championship, managing three sixth place finishes as his best results across the 31 races.
AUTO ACTION will have more on this breaking story shortly.
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