Garry Rogers has confirmed Volvo Polestar Racing will have four S60 V8 Supercars ready to race in the 2015 Championship.
But the veteran team owner, who is contracted to run two cars in 2015 for Volvo, says the new cars are spares that may never race unless the finances and backing are right to do so.
“We have three cars now and we will concentrate on getting another one built,” Rogers told v8supercars.com.au. “But whether we ever use them I don’t know. It will depend on financial aspects.”
The number of Volvo S60s on the grid and who will drive them is the biggest story of the 2014 ‘silly season’ as the Championship prepares for the weekend’s opening round of the Pirtek Enduro Cup, the Wilson Security Sandown 500.
Rogers’ revelation that he will have enough cars on-hand to double the size of his squad is intriguing, because the expectation has been that if more Volvos arrive on the grid they would be run out of a different operation.
Braid has publicly confirmed negotiations with a number of teams including Betty Klimenko’s privateer Erebus Motorsport V8.
But Rogers, who is in the first year of a three-year deal to race the S60 for Volvo, revealed he has also had preliminary discussion with Crabb about expanding his operation.
“Derek Crabb had spoken to me about it, but we haven’t got down to specifics.
“I am talking about running four cars if there was sponsorship and financial assistance there to do it,” added Rogers. “We would not be adverse.
“And that is what I have said all the way through. We don’t want to run four cars just for the sake of running four cars.”
That is clearly a major investment considering its not only funding for the cars themselves, but also two Racing Entitlement Contracts would have to be secured to run them.
Multiple teams and sponsors are known to have been in negotiation with Volvo following on from the brilliant 2014 debut, which has seen Scott McLaughlin claim seven ARMOR ALL Pole Positions and two wins, including last time out at Sydney Motorsport Park in the 200km Race 28 mini-marathon.
The possibility of other teams getting involved with Volvo also raises the possibility of Rogers selling his new S60s and /or technology to them.
“I am really not sure because it would depend upon what our commitment to that arrangement would be,” Rogers cautioned. “Clearly, we have done all the r&d for those cars and if people wanted to buy cars from us or share that availability then we would look at it. It has to be a commercial arrangement.”
At the same time, the struggles of McLaughlin’s Swedish teammate Robert Dahlgren and the expectation he will not continue with the team in 2015 have enlivened the driver market.
Asked if Dahlgren, who runs 25th in the Championship and most recently crashed his S60 out of the Sydney Motorsport Park 400, would stay in his seat for the rest of the season, Rogers was emphatically ambivalent.
“I have no problem with you quoting me on this … most likely. Who knows what happens day-to-day.”
Rogers has swung driver changes during the season previously, notably replacing fast-but-erratic Frenchman Alex Premat with Greg Ritter for the Gold Coast in 2012.
Rogers agreed with Braid’s timeline that any driver decision would be made by the end of October, but in typical fashion played down any suggestion that he was actively sorting through prospects for the drive.
“We haven’t got to that extreme yet, but until we get to the point of getting serious and offering people things I didn’t think there was any sense in getting too harum-scarum about it,” he said.
Out of contract Nissan factory driver Michael Caruso has been linked to the Volvo seat, which would mean renewing his relationship with the team for which he raced between 2008 and 2012 when it was a privateer Holden outfit.
However, there was some friction between Caruso and the team when he left. That may prove an obstacle to him returning.
