Super Black Racing are confident they’ll be on the V8 Supercars grid next year despite suggestions they could lose their current Racing Entitlement Contract.
The Racing Entitlement Contract (Rec) is the licence to have a car competing in the category and the one they have was leased from DJR Team Penske.
There have been suggestions DJR Team Penske want to be a two-car operation next year and will want their Rec back.
Super Black Racing’s car, which is driven by Andre Heimgartner, is managed by Prodrive Racing Australia, who also look after the two Pepsi Max cars driven by Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert as well as David Reynolds’ Bottle-O entry.
Last week Prodrive’s boss Tim Edwards told motorsport.com that they could drop down to a three-car operation next year.
“Our ideal business model is four cars, we’ve long said that,” Edwards said.
“Three still works, but four is the preferred number, because you’ve got control of your boom and things like that. But we ran three cars for plenty of years as well.
“We’re yet to secure a deal with Super Black, but Tony (Lentino, Super Black Racing owner) is keen to do something for next year. We’re just yet to actually conclude the deal.
“I think we’ll know in the next month or two what we’re doing next year. It won’t be that long.”
But Super Black Racing’s chief of operations, Greg Hahn, says they’re not only confident staying in V8 Supercars, but plan to expand to a two-car outfit.
“We’ve got a couple of plans that we’re working on in the background,” Hahn said.
“But we’re only six months into the year and we’ve got a bit to work on between now and the end of the year.
“We’re still confident about having two cars on the grid and the discussions will continue.”
If Super Black Racing are able to purchase two Recs from somewhere for next season, it does raise an issue as to whether Prodrive will be able to expand to look after five cars and it may mean that Bottle-O are squeezed out.
Although, as Edwards says, there’s no deal yet done between Prodrive and Super Black Racing, Hahn says they want to stay together.
“Prodrive are a great partner for us,” he said.
“But it’s still early in the year and we’ve still got discussions with them.”
Meanwhile, Hahn says they’re looking at having a number of brands’ logos on the car for a short period this season, rather than trying to secure a season-long sponsorship with just one.
“We feel that the old sponsorship model of having the sticker on the car is quietly dying,” he said.
“So what people will see from us going forward is that we’ll do campaigns where for one or two rounds we do a whole livery change for a client.”
