SUPER2 Series leader Declan Fraser is set to miss the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship grid.
V8 Sleuth has learnt early favourite Fraser has ruled himself out of the race for the #35 Matt Stone Racing seat which will be vacated by Todd Hazelwood at season’s end.
That appears to be the last seat available, now that James Golding is all but certain to stay at PremiAir Racing and Brad Jones Racing is expected to retain its current quartet.
Jayden Ojeda, Zak Best, Cameron Hill and Angelo Mouzouris are among the names to have been linked to the MSR seat alongside incumbent Jack Le Brocq, who will stay on into the Gen3 era.
“I have such strong commercial backing partners that I have had for such a long time now and I’m forever grateful,” Fraser told V8 Sleuth, thanking Red Hot Couriers, Shapecut, Supercheap Auto, MoneyMe and Pure Property Management.
“For us, it was just a little bit too far out of reach for what we could achieve and we decided to withdraw from the race for the seat.
“It’s just now about exploring our other options I guess for next year. Wherever that may lead us, we’ll make that decision hopefully soon.”
Earlier this month, Fraser made his main game debut at the Repco Bathurst 1000, finishing eighth with Craig Lowndes in Triple Eight Race Engineering’s wildcard Commodore.
Now his attention turns to sealing the Super2 title – he leads Zak Best by 75 points entering the Adelaide decider in December.
“At the moment for me, my whole focus shifts to making sure we’re doing the best job (in Super2),” said Fraser.
“We’re still leading the championship going into Adelaide and it’s only a few weeks away so I am fully focused on making sure I do the best job for Triple Eight and all of my supporters and sponsors.
“Hopefully we can close out the season with a win and come away with that championship, which is what I have been working for so long to get done this season.
“So all my focus is purely on that at the moment, hopefully we can go out and show everyone what we can do.”
