 | |
| Team Principal | Rick andTodd Kelly,Brenton Grove |
|---|---|
| Debut | 2009 |
| Final Season | 2021 |
| Round wins | 1 |
| Pole positions | 6 |
| 2020 position | 9th (2760 pts) |
Kelly Racing (formerly known asKelly Grove Racing andNissan Motorsport) is an Australianmotor racing team which competes in theDunlop Super2 Series. It formerly competed in theSupercars Championship from 2009 to 2021. The team made its debut in2009, and racedHolden VE Commodores until the end of the2012 season. In2013, the team switched to competing withNissan Altimas, and was rebranded Nissan Motorsport.
Following the Nissan sponsorship concluding, the team was rebranded back to Kelly Racing in2019. For 2020 Kelly Racing campaigned twoFord Mustang GTs in the championship. The team is based in theMelbourne suburb ofBraeside.
In 2019 the team expanded into the newTCR Australia Touring Car Series, running another four cars, a pair each ofOpel Astra TCRs branded asHolden Astras andSubaru WRX STI TCRs. In 2021, the team was rebranded Kelly Grove Racing after the Grove Group bought a majority shareholding in the team.
Despite some initial hurdles,[1] the team was formed in 2009,[2] after several months of preparation. The two sons of the owners,Rick andTodd were lead drivers for 2009, with sponsorship fromJack Daniel's.Jack Perkins andDale Wood (though later replaced byMark McNally), were confirmed as drivers of the third and fourth Kelly Racing entries.
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After a troubled relationship withTom Walkinshaw, with whom they formed theHSV Dealer Team, team principals John and Margaret Kelly took their twoV8 Supercar Racing Entitlement Contracts (RECs) to set up Kelly Racing, forcing Walkinshaw to find other RECs to runhis second team in the championship.
With a decision byHolden to reduce support for most teams running theirCommodore product in the series for 2009,[3] along with the impending economic crisis,[4]Larry Perkins chose to scale back his involvement in the sport through hisPerkins Engineering team at the end of 2008. A deal was concluded that saw Perkins Engineering sell much of its hardware including cars to the new team, as well as provide engineering services with the functions gradually to be transferred to Kelly Racing. Many of the former Perkins Engineering transferred to Kelly Racing. Perkins also retained ownership of his RECs and was thus the entrant for the team's third and fourth cars.
Racing numbers were swapped so that the Kelly owned licences could make use of the #7 racing number, to suit major sponsorJack Daniel's and their "Old Number 7" brand. This sponsorship had been carried over from Perkins Engineering, where Todd Kelly was previously using the #7 racing number.
The new team had its track debut atWinton Raceway on 3 March 2009, running the allowed 20-lap shakedown test for newly constructed cars in theV8 Supercar category,[2] which was declared a success by both Todd and Rick. Following this initial shakedown, the team appeared at the official category test day at the same circuit on 9 March 2009, where all four cars appeared.[5][6]
The team's first race was the2009 Clipsal 500. The two Kelly brothers finished in the top ten in the first race,[7] Todd in 7th and Rick in 10th, after starting 24th and 17th respectively.[8] Wood, who did not set a qualifying time after a crash in practice, finished 14th after starting from pitlane. Perkins failed to finish due to badly damaged steering caused by brushing the wall. Rick was the only one of the four drivers to finish the second race, again in 10th place.[9] Todd Kelly and Jack Perkins both inflicted steering damage from contact with other cars while Dale Wood spun into the wall. The team left the weekend with Rick Kelly 8th in the championship standings, Todd Kelly in 16th, Dale Wood in 24th and Jack Perkins in 30th.[10] Todd made the following comment on the team's first weekend: "Getting an event under our belt, we've now got pages and pages of things we need to address and improve on. This is our first race as a brand new team so given that, I think the weekend wasn't too bad."
Todd and Rick achieved numerous top ten results as the season went on, the best being Rick's 4th places atWinton andHidden Valley, while Perkins and Wood struggled. Wood was replaced byMark McNally from theTownsville round onwards.
Todd and Rick teamed up in the #7 car for the endurances races atPhillip Island andBathurst withNathan Pretty andBen Collins driving the #15 car. Dale Wood returned to the driving seat to partner Jack Perkins in the #11 car whileTony Ricciardello joined Mark McNally in the #16 car. The Kelly brothers finished fifth in theL&H 500 after Todd won one of the qualifying races.[11] Bet 24/7 came on board as major sponsor for the #11 car before Bathurst, with Perkins and Wood running #247 for the Bathurst weekend. Todd and Rick Kelly were running in second place with only a handful of laps to go in theBathurst 1000, but a damaged rear wing and a late safety car led to the brothers finishing in eighth place.[12]
Perkins reverted to #11 for the remainder of the season. The team scored its first podium finish at theIsland 300, which turned out to be the first in a hat-trick of podiums for the team, with Rick finishing third and second at Phillip Island and Todd finishing second in race one atBarbagallo. The final championship standings saw Rick Kelly finish in eighth, Todd Kelly in 18th, Jack Perkins in 26th, Dale Wood in 29th and Mark McNally in 30th. Jack Daniel's Racing (#7 and #15) finished sixth in teams' championship with Kelly Racing (#11 and #16) in 13th and last of the two car teams.
In2010Jason Bargwanna andTony Ricciardello joined the team.
Rick took the team's first pole position atWinton but did not manage a win. Only one podium result came out of 2010, Rick finishing third in the rain-affected first race of theSydney 500.
For the endurance races, Rick and Todd were not allowed to pair up due to new regulations regarding endurance co-drivers.Owen Kelly, of no relation to the two brothers, joined Rick in the #15 car while Dale Wood drove with Todd. Ricciardello was partnered byTaz Douglas while two-timeAustralian touring car championGlenn Seton partnered Bargwanna. Rick and Owen had a strong run at thePhillip Island 500, finishing fourth after needing to conserve fuel at the end of the race, while the other three cars all finished outside the top fifteen. The team had a disappointingBathurst, with none of the cars finishing in the top ten, the best result 16th place for Rick and Owen.
The team hiredScott Dixon andAlex Tagliani as its international drivers for theGold Coast 600, Dixon driving with Todd Kelly and Tagliani with Bargwanna. Owen Kelly remained with Rick and Wood moved into the #16 car with Ricciardello. It proved to be another average weekend, with Rick and Owen again providing the best result, a sixth place in race two.
The final championship standings saw Rick and Todd repeat their 2009 efforts, finishing eighth and 18th respectively. Bargwanna ended up 24th and Ricciardello was 26th. Jack Daniel's Racing was fifth in the teams' championship and Kelly Racing was 11th.
The Jack Daniel's Racing drivers remained the same for2011, but two new drivers were hired for Kelly Racing,Greg Murphy[13] andDavid Reynolds.[14]
2011 was the team's most successful season to date. Rick Kelly scored the team's first race win in wet conditions at theHamilton 400.[15] Todd made it an extra special day by finishing in third place despite having a broken windscreen wiper. Rick won a further two races, with a win in Darwin at Hidden Valley and a win at Sandown later in the season, placing 6th in the championship. Todd for a third year straight placed 18th in the series, Reynolds impressed on his return to V8 Supercars, with numerous top ten qualifying efforts and two top five race results, eventually placing 19th. Murphy placed a respectable 13th in the Pepsi Max Holden.
For the endurance races, the team signed David Russell,Allan Simonsen,Owen Kelly andTim Blanchard to drive with the team, with Russell joining Todd in Car #7, Simonsen joining Murphy in car #11, Owen Kelly joining Rick in #15 and Blanchard pairing up with Reynolds in #16. For theGold Coast 600, the team signedRichard Westbrook to drive with Todd,Oliver Gavin to drive with Murphy,Jörg Bergmeister to drive with Rick andAlex Tagliani to join Reynolds. At Phillip Island, all cars finished in the top 15, with car #16 the best in 6th. At Bathurst, a fifth car was entered, the #77 Shannons-Mars Racing Commodore, with Grant Denyer and Cam Waters driving the car. Car #11 claimed Pole position, with #16 qualifying in 4th, the Jack Daniels cars qualified in 16th and 19th, car #77 qualified 29th and Last. Murphy and Simonsen eventually finished 11 seconds behind the winners in 3rd position, with car #16 finishing in 19th, Car #15 placing 22nd and Car #7 placing 24th, some 7 laps down on Murphy and Simonsen, the fifth car of Denyer and Waters did not finish.
2012 started with the announcement that they would switch toNissan for2013 making them the first team to change manufacturers for the new regulations.[16]
In January 2013 the RECs of Larry Perkins were purchased for the third and fourth entries.[17] For2013 the team was rebranded as Nissan Motorsport.Michael Caruso andJames Moffat were recruited to drive the third and fourth entries.
All four drivers continued with the team in2014. After the 2014 Season,Norton ended their title sponsorship of the Moffat and Caruso entries.
For 2015, the Norton inspired race numbers, #36 and #360, were replaced, with Caruso changing to Nissan's traditional #23 (a wordplay on the marque itself, "ni" meaning two and "san" meaning three) and Moffat to #99. Jack Daniels also downsized their sponsorship to just the #15 car of Rick Kelly, with Carsales replacing Jack Daniels on the #7 car of Todd Kelly.
Moffat left the team at the end of 2015 withDale Wood returning to the team.[18] Caruso won a race for the team at Hidden Valley. The Team also ran a fifth entry in the Bathurst 1000, withRenee Gracie andSimona de Silvestro driving the #360 Harvey Norman Supergirls Altima. The entry placed 14th.
In 2017, Dale Wood was replaced bySimona de Silvestro.[19] Todd Kelly, Rick Kelly and Michael Caruso remained with the team.
For 2018, Todd Kelly retired and was replaced byAndre Heimgartner. Rick Kelly, Michael Caruso and Simona de Silvestro continued with the team.
Following the termination of Nissan's sponsorship, in 2019 the team resumed operating under the Kelly Racing brand.[20] The team will continue to compete with theNissan Altima under licence from the company.[21][22]
In 2020 the team scaled back to two cars and switched to runningFord Mustang GTs.[23] The surplus RECs were sold toTeam 18 andMatt Stone Racing.
The team was rebranded as Kelly Grove Racing, after the Grove Group bought a 50% shareholding.[24][25]
Rick Kelly announced his retirement at the end of 2020, he was replaced by David Reynolds who returned to the team. Reynolds brought sponsorship fromPenrite, with the car changing to #26 (representing 1926, the year in which Penrite was founded)[26] and his Race Engineer Alistair McVean. Andre Heimgartner continued with the team in car #7.
In 2022, Grove Group will take 100% ownership with the team rebrandedGrove Racing. Neither Kelly will continue their involvement with the team.[27]
The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in V8 Supercars, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team in an endurance race co-driver basis are listed in italics.
Todd Kelly (2009–17)Rick Kelly (2009–20)Jack Perkins (2009)Dale Wood (2009–10, 2016, 2019–20)Mark McNally (2009)Nathan Pretty (2009)Tony Ricciardello (2009–10)
Ben Collins (2009)Jason Bargwanna (2010)Glenn Seton (2010)Owen Kelly (2010–12)Taz Douglas (2010, 2013–15)
Scott Dixon (2010)
Alex Tagliani (2010–11)Greg Murphy (2011–12)David Reynolds (2011, 2021)David Russell (2011–17)
Allan Simonsen (2011)Tim Blanchard (2011–12)Richard Westbrook (2011)Oliver Gavin (2011)
Jörg Bergmeister (2011)Karl Reindler (2012–13)Jacques Villeneuve (2012)Daniel Gaunt (2012–13)
Marco Andretti (2012)
Franck Montagny (2012)Graham Rahal (2012)Justin Wilson (2012)Michael Caruso (2013–18)James Moffat (2013–15)Alex Buncombe (2014–15)Dean Fiore (2014–19)Matt Campbell (2016, 2021)Russell Ingall (2016)
Simona de Silvestro (2016–19)David Wall (2017)Jack Le Brocq (2017)Andre Heimgartner (2018–present)Aaren Russell (2018)Garry Jacobson (2018–19)Alex Rullo (2018–19)Bryce Fullwood (2019)Dylan O'Keeffe (2020)Luke Youlden (2021)The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in Super2 Series, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team in an endurance race co-driver basis are listed in italics.
Owen Kelly (2010)Grant Denyer (2011)Cam Waters (2011)Matthew Payne (2021)Mason Kelly (2023)
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