ANDERSON Motor Sport has been revealed as the team that will field a Dick Johnson Racing Mustang as a wildcard entry in this October’s Repco Bathurst 1000.
DJR will provide assistance to the Bathurst-based Super3 team owned by Michael Anderson, who will be one of the drivers in the car and live his dream of competing in the ‘Great Race’.
Anderson had secured a deal with DJR to buy one of its spare Mustangs with a view to using it in next year’s Dunlop Series in Super2.
However it won’t be sitting idle until then and will help bring the field for this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000 up to at least 28 cars.
Anderson Motor Sport will enter the car and has engaged DJR for pre-race preparation and to oversee the car on race week at Bathurst in conjunction with AMS’ crew.
Anderson, 37, is a Bathurst local and has a background in Historic Touring Cars in an XY GT V8 Falcon prior to making his debut in the V8 Touring Car (Super3) Series in an ex FPR Falcon BF in 2016.
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He stepped up into an ex-FPR FG Falcon in 2017 and again competed in it in 2018 before electing to give young drivers an opportunity in his car in 2019 (Jayden Ojeda) and 2020 (Declan Fraser) before returning to drive it himself and finish runner-up in the Super3 Series last year.
This year Anderson Motor Sport is running Brad Vaughan in the car in the Super3 Series.
Anderson has a range of V8 Touring Car/Super3 Series race wins to his name, including victory at last February’s Bathurst season opener.
“It’s something I’ve had in my head for a few years (to race in the Bathurst 1000) and I’ve looked into it moreso since it was announced that the Mustang would move into Super2 next year,” Anderson told V8 Sleuth this week.
“A really good mate of mine Chad got me in touch with Ryan (Story, DJR co-owner) and he asked me what my goals were, and I said I’d love to race in the ‘1000. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and I was getting the car I wanted to buy anyway, so it’s a bit of a case of two birds, one stone.
“My Super Licence has been approved. Competing in the Bathurst 1000 has been my biggest dream in motorsport and I’m getting to make it happen.”
The Mustang he has purchased from DJR that will be used for the Bathurst wildcard is DJRTP05, a former Fabian Coulthard car from the team’s DJR Team Penske era.
Originally built as a Falcon FG X and raced by Coulthard in 2018, it was converted to a Mustang in 2019 before being used by the Kiwi through to the end of 2020.
The team built two brand new cars for 2021 in the wake of Team Penske’s departure from Supercars and the ex-Coulthard car has not been raced since.
“It’s got a great pedigree, a Penske era car and it will be basically the only one from that era left in Australia as a race car,” said Anderson.
“It’s a big thing for me to have a car from the DJR Team Penske era.”
Anderson is in Queensland at DJR’s workshop today for a seat fitting ahead of an official car ‘handover’ day at Queensland Raceway next week.
The sponsor and the identity of the driver he’ll share his Bathurst wildcard entry with remains to be revealed.
In response to news of the Anderson Motor Sport wildcard becoming public, DJR issued a statement clarifying its role in the project.
“The team can confirm that Anderson Motorsport has purchased a DJR Mustang that will be raced by Anderson Motorsport with minimal technical support from DJR over the event before racing in the Super2/3 Series field in 2023 as the Gen2 model cars retire from current Supercar racing,” it read.
“The DJR team’s efforts are focused on cars No. 11 & No. 17 for the Great Race and the continued development of the 2023 Gen3 Ford Mustang.”
DJR has already confirmed that Tony D’Alberto will share the #11 Shell V-Power Mustang with Anton De Pasquale and Alex Davison will return to co-drive the #17 car with his younger brother Will.
DJR announced yesterday it has re-signed Viva Energy Australia and its Shell V-Power brand on a multi-year deal to continue its naming rights partnership of the team.
