2019 Supercars Championship preview and entry list

The 2019 season of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship will kick-off traditionally at Adelaide Street Circuit on the first weekend of March with twenty-four drivers representing three manufacturers. The season will feature thirty races over fifteen rounds with season’s finale scheduled for November 23-24 at Newcastle Street Circuit.

The schedule has one round and one race less than in 2018, with Sydney SuperNight race removed from a calendar. Compared to 2018, the grid is reduced from 26 to 24 cars because both Tickford Racing and Triple Eight Race Engineering returned one Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) to the governing body.

The championship traditionally starts at Adelaide Street Circuit

The biggest change among the manufacturers is a completely new model that will represent Ford. After four seasons of using an FG X Falcon, a brand new sixth-generation Ford Mustang GT has been homologated for the Supercars Championship. Tickford Racing and DJR Team Penske participated in the development of a car, with Ford Performance providing technical support.

Holden teams will continue to run ZB Commodore while Nissan will be represented with Altima L33. After six seasons of a partnership between Nissan and Kelly Racing, the Japanese manufacturer withdrew a support and Kelly Racing will again race under its own name.

Defending champion Scott McLaughlin will drive the #17 Ford Mustang in 2019

Among the drivers, there are lots of changes. Craig Lowndes, one of the greatest drivers in the history of the championship, retired from full-time racing and he will serve as an endurance co-driver to Red Bull Holden’s Jamie Whincup. Garth Tander did the same, stepping down from full-time racing to join defending teams’ champions Triple Eight as Shane van Gisbergen‘s co-driver.

DJR Team Penske, the second-placed team from the last year, retained the champion Scott McLaughlin and his teammate Fabian Coulthard. Tickford Racing will run three Ford Mustangs for Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters and newcomer Lee Holdsworth, who replaced Mark Winterbottom. On the other side, Winterbottom joined Holdsworth’s former team Charlie Schwerkolt Racing.

There will be six Ford Mustangs on the Supercars grid

The sixth Ford on the grid will be the #23 Mustang of 23Red Racing for Will Davison. Richie Stanaway also left Tickford Racing to join Garry Rogers Motorsport which underwent rebranding and will run under the name Boost Mobile Racing, operating two cars for young drivers Stanaway and James Golding.

Tim Blanchard is another driver to retire from full-time competition and he will be replaced by Macauley Jones in the #21 Team CoolDrive Holden. It would be the first full season for the 24-year-old Jones. Another full-time rookie is Garry Jacobson who will replace Michael Caruso in the Kelly Racing’s line-up. Caruso moved to Tickford Racing as an endurance co-driver.

The 2019 Supercars grid consists of 24 cars

2019 Supercars Championship entry list

Photos: Supercars,