TEAM SYDNEY REBUILD UNDERWAY

Team Sydney rebuild is underway – Images: InSyde Media

The Team Sydney rebuild is underway!

By BRUCE NEWTON

That’s the message from Team Sydney boss Jonathon Webb, who has been buoyed in the off- season by the signing of Supercars race-winner Fabian Coulthard and the return of gun engineer Dr Geoff Slater for 2021.

Both Coulthard and Slater were confirmed in the days after the final Auto Action of 2020 was published.

Coulthard, 38, joins Team Sydney after five years at DJR Team Penske, while Slater rejoins after two years working on the RLL BMW IMSA GTLM program in the USA.

“We are looking for reasonable speed on the track, we need reasonable qualifying speed and some refinement in the crew,” Webb told Auto Action.

“We just want to tick as many boxes as we can to be a successful race team and get back to where we were in the past. We have had some great success as a group and we just need to get back to where we were.”

Webb oversaw Team Sydney’s 2020 emergence from Tekno Autosports overcoming a series of impacts including the early withdrawal of James Courtney and Boost, and the COVID-19 crisis.

Alex Davison took over Courtney’s entry with backing from Tony Quinn’s Local Legends beef jerky brand, while Chris Pither raced the entire season in the team’s other Triple Eight Holden Commodore ZB with backing from soft drink giant Coca-Cola.

Pither, with a best finish of fifth in the opening race of Darwin 1, was 20th in the Supercars drivers’ championship. Davison, with a best finish of 12th with Webb in the season-ending Bathurst 1000, was 23rd.

The team finished 11th and second last in the Supercars teams’ championship.

Webb says Bathurst, where both cars finished running reliably (Pither and co-driver Steve Owen were classified 16th) was a good way to cap 2020 and bodes well for this season.

“We just want to keep building on the momentum we had at the back-end of last year,” Webb said. “We need to keep stepping forward, keep refining, keep getting faster.

“What we have got as far as equipment is as good as anyone up and down pitlane. We just have to refine what we are doing with it. With Penske and Triple Eight it’s that attention to detail and consistency across the people and that’s exactly what we have to achieve. “Having said that I don’t expect us to roll out at Bathurst [at the season-opening Mount Panorama 500] and dominate. But we want to put on a good, clean show and build that momentum going into Gen3 [in 2022].”

Webb nominated Coulthard’s experience as a key asset he brings to Team Sydney.

“He has been around a long time and he understands the sport,” said Webb. “He wants to win and he wants to try and perform, but at the same stage he has enough wealth of experience to know that doesn’t happen easily or overnight.

“He will work well in his relationships with the crew. We are still a relatively small group and everyone has to work together.

“In his years with Penske he has also learned a lot as a driver, understanding the relationship with how they can be with the engineer and the group … He can bring that to the group.”

Slater also brings a wealth of Supercars experience. His history in the category traces back to 2004 and was part of Tekno from 2011, including a highly successful period with Shane van Gisbergen and the 2016 Bathurst 1000 win with Will Davison and Webb.

Webb says Slater’s experience will also be crucial to the progress Team Sydney intends to make.

“He’ll manage and control that whole engineering department as well as be Fabian’s race engineer,” said Webb.

“He’s learned a lot over at BMW where he’s been in more of a management role and he’s grown a lot as a person with his experience around the world and he’ll be able to bring all that experience to the group.”

The team is also finalising the rest of its full-time crew after using a variety of part-timers through 2020.

Webb and wife Kobe will continue to manage the overall operation, while Webb says he has yet to decide if he will continue as a co-driver.

Team Sydney is currently based in temporary facilities at Sydney Motorsport Park, while its new full-time home within SMP’s Centre of Excellence has been delayed because of the coronavirus.

In the short term, Webb is watching the coronavirus in case the team has to vacate.

“I think it’s even money. We are going to stick with Sydney with the hope COVID will go away. We want to base ourselves there for the season.
“Sydney is our home now and is so for the foreseeable future.”

Team Sydney has also confirmed that Garry Jacobson will be the second driver in their 2021 line-up.

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