Kelly Racing Nissan Motorsport (Australia)

1 kelly racing

1.1 introduction
1.2 formation
1.3 2009
1.4 2010
1.5 2011
1.6 2012

kelly racing
introduction

despite initial hurdles, team formed in 2009, after several months of preparation. 2 sons of owners, rick , todd lead drivers 2009, sponsorship jack daniel s. jack perkins , dale wood (though later replaced mark mcnally), confirmed drivers of third , fourth kelly racing entries.

formation

after troubled relationship tom walkinshaw, whom formed hsv dealer team, team principals john , margaret kelly took 2 v8 supercar racing entitlement contracts (recs) set kelly racing, forcing walkinshaw find other recs run second team in championship.

with decision holden reduce support teams running commodore product in series 2009, along impending economic crisis, larry perkins chose scale involvement in sport through perkins engineering team @ end of 2008. deal concluded saw perkins engineering sell of hardware including cars new team, provide engineering services functions gradually transferred kelly racing. many of former perkins engineering transferred kelly racing. perkins retained ownership of recs , entrant team s third , fourth cars.

racing numbers swapped kelly owned licences make use of #7 racing number, suit major sponsor jack daniel s , old number 7 brand. sponsorship had been carried on perkins engineering, todd kelly using #7 racing number.

2009

the new team had track debut @ winton raceway on 3 march 2009, running allowed 20-lap shakedown test newly constructed cars in v8 supercar category, declared success both todd , rick. following initial shakedown, team appeared @ official category test day @ same circuit on 9 march 2009, 4 cars appeared.

the team s first race 2009 clipsal 500. 2 kelly brothers finished in top ten in first race, todd in 7th , rick in 10th, after starting 24th , 17th respectively. wood, did not set qualifying time after crash in practice, finished 14th after starting pitlane. perkins failed finish due badly damaged steering caused brushing wall. rick 1 of 4 drivers finish second race, again in 10th place. todd kelly , jack perkins both inflicted steering damage contact other cars while dale wood spun wall. team left weekend rick kelly 8th in championship standings, todd kelly in 16th, dale wood in 24th , jack perkins in 30th. todd made following comment on team s first weekend: getting event under our belt, ve got pages , pages of things need address , improve on. our first race brand new team given that, think weekend wasn t bad.

todd , rick achieved numerous top ten results season went on, best being rick s 4th places @ winton , hidden valley, while perkins , wood struggled. wood replaced mark mcnally townsville round onwards.

todd , rick teamed in #7 car endurances races @ phillip island , bathurst nathan pretty , ben collins driving #15 car. dale wood returned driving seat partner jack perkins in #11 car while tony ricciardello joined mark mcnally in #16 car. kelly brothers finished fifth in l&h 500 after todd won 1 of qualifying races. bet 24/7 came on board major sponsor #11 car before bathurst, perkins , wood running #247 bathurst weekend. todd , rick kelly running in second place handful of laps go in bathurst 1000, damaged rear wing , late safety car led brothers finishing in eighth place.

perkins reverted #11 of remainder of season. team scored first podium finish @ island 300, turned out first in hat-trick of podiums team, rick finishing third , second @ phillip island , todd finishing second in race 1 @ barbagallo. final championship standings saw rick kelly finish in eighth, todd kelly in 18th, jack perkins in 26th, dale wood in 29th , mark mcnally in 30th. jack daniel s racing (#7 , #15) finished sixth in teams championship kelly racing (#11 , #16) in 13th , last of 2 car teams.

2010

in 2010 jason bargwanna , tony ricciardello joined team.

rick took team s first pole position @ winton did not manage win. 1 podium result came out of 2010, rick finishing third in rain-affected first race of sydney 500.

for endurance races, rick , todd not allowed pair due new regulations regarding endurance co-drivers. owen kelly, of no relation 2 brothers, joined rick in #15 car while dale wood drove todd. ricciardello partnered taz douglas while two-time australian touring car champion glenn seton partnered bargwanna. rick , owen had strong run @ phillip island 500, finishing fourth after needing conserve fuel @ end of race, while other 3 cars finished outside top fifteen. team had disappointing bathurst, none of cars finishing in top ten, best result 16th place rick , owen.

the team hired scott dixon , alex tagliani international drivers gold coast 600, dixon driving todd kelly , tagliani bargwanna. owen kelly remained rick , wood moved #16 car ricciardello. proved average weekend, rick , owen again providing best result, sixth place in race two.

the final championship standings saw rick , todd repeat 2009 efforts, finishing eighth , 18th respectively. bargwanna ended 24th , ricciardello 26th. jack daniel s racing fifth in teams championship , kelly racing 11th.

2011

the jack daniel s racing drivers remained same 2011, 2 new drivers hired kelly racing, greg murphy , david reynolds.

2011 team s successful season date. rick kelly scored team s first race win in wet conditions @ hamilton 400. todd made special day finishing in third place despite having broken windscreen wiper. rick won further 2 races, win in darwin @ hidden valley , win @ sandown later in season, placing 6th in championship. todd third year straight placed 18th in series, reynolds impressed on return v8 supercars, numerous top ten qualifying efforts , 2 top 5 race results, placing 19th. murphy placed respectable 13th in pepsi max holden.

for endurance races, team signed david russell, allan simonsen, owen kelly , tim blanchard drive team, russell joining todd in car #7, simonsen joining murphy in car #11, owen kelly joining rick in #15 , blanchard pairing reynolds in #16. gold coast 600, team signed richard westbrook drive todd, oliver gavin drive murphy, jörg bergmeister drive rick , alex tagliani join reynolds. @ phillip island, cars finished in top 15, car #16 best in 6th. @ bathurst, fifth car entered, #77 shannons-mars racing commodore, grant denyer , cameron waters driving car. car #11 claimed pole position, #16 qualifying in 4th, jack daniels cars qualified in 16th , 19th, car #77 qulaified 29th , last. murphy , simonsen finished 11 seconds behind winners in 3rd position, car #16 finishing in 19th, car #15 placing 22nd , car #7 placing 24th, 7 laps down on murphy , simonsen, fifth car of denyer , waters did not finish.

2012

2012 started announcement switch nissan 2013 making them first team switch manufacturers new regulations.