For the last two season Steve has campaigned the VIP Petfoods car under the REC (Racing Entitlements Contract) owned by Paul Morris, and run by DJR.

It’s something of a return to DJR for Owen, who drove one of the team’s Jim Beam Falcons in the endurance races at Phillip Island and Bathurst in 2008.

This year Steve moved from a Commodore to a Triple Eight-built Falcon for 2012, the same car as used by Jonathon Webb for the last two years and prior to that by Craig Lowndes in the first part of the 2009 season.

Owen, who won the Development Series in 2008 and again in 2010, really stamped his credentials down during a stint as Jamie Whincup’s endurance co-driver at TeamVodafone in 2010.

The duo took pole at Phillip Island, finished runners-up at Bathurst and then won on the Gold Coast, and it was those results that helped propel Owen back into a full-time drive last season in the V8SC for the first time since 2007.

The quietly spoken racer is a graduate of Formula Ford and went back to the junior open wheel category in 2004 in a bid to re-launch his career and stay on the radar of V8 Supercar teams.

Originally from Melbourne, he now is based on the Gold Coast with fiancé Lia.