Tassie Excel ace to make Trans Am debut
By Timothy Neal
Date posted: 23 December 2022
Tasmanian young gun Josh Webster will take the leap in the national Turtle Wax Trans Am series in a home-state debut with Dream Racing.
Webster – the son of three-time Tasmanian Improved Production champion Andrew Webster – will step into Trans Am after winning multiple Tasmanian Excel championships.
He joins fellow Tasmanian’s Owen Kelly and Lochie Dalton on the grid, giving local fans a healthy representation come round one of the SpeedSeries at Symmons Plains.
“Trans Am is pretty competitive and we’re going to have to put our best foot forward that’s for sure and bring our A game,” said Webster.
“I think the category has made some big steps forward in the past few seasons, so to be joining the series on the mainland will be a step up that’s for sure.”
The Excel champ will step into the Chevrolet Camaro that was recently piloted by Josh Haynes in the TA2 Muscle Car Series, and will be prepared by Dream Racing, the team that took out the first official Trans Am national championship with Nathan Herne behind the wheel.
Webster has been testing the ex-Josh Haynes TA2 Chev at Symmons Plains and Baskerville ahead of his Trans Am national debut
Webster will enter the February 24-26 event with some good testing under his belt, having tested the Chev at both Symmons Plains and Baskerville, and has already got some local businesses to get behind his push for a dream debut and a home win.
“It’s the ex-Josh Haynes Chevrolet Camaro, which raced competitively in TA2 the last season or so. We’ve had a few test sessions and haven’t really changed a lot. I’ve just been getting used to the car and we’re not that far off the pace,” he continued.
“We’ve linked up with Dream Racing Australia for this season and I’m sure the car will be a rocket ship. That all came about when the team invited us up in July for a test day up at Queensland Raceway and basically it all stemmed from that.
“Testing has been about getting used to the car and there’s definitely more speed to come from future test days, but hopefully at Round 1 we can do something cool.
“It doesn’t happen often debuting at home, but it’s pretty cool to make the step up to a competitive national category class at my home track.”
This will make it three straight AWC Tasmania’s for Webster, having tackled the last two as an Excel driver, where in 2021, he took on his now fellow Trans Am competitor Ben Grice in Baskerville.
The season opener for the newly amalgamated SpeedSeries includes the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship and the fan favourite Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters.
For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.
AUTO ACTION, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.
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