Red_Ice
08-12-2007, 05:31 PM
Release Date: 07/12/2007 Former V8 Supercar Development Series Champion Paul Dumbrell will join the championship-winning Toll HSV Dealer Team alongside Rick Kelly next season.
Dumbrell, 25, replaces newly-crowned champion Garth Tander who shifts to the Holden Racing Team after three successful years with Toll HSV.
The team also announced that current team Team Engineer, Erik Pender, had been promoted to Team Manager, replacing Rob Crawford who is also transferring to HRT as Team Manager.
Erik’s current role as Rick Kelly’s engineer will be filled by Alistair McVean, from Walkinshaw Performance.
As well, the team has signed an agreement with dual World Touring Cup winner Paul Radisich to return to the team for the 2008 enduros, while also playing a support role throughout the season.
In making the announcements, Team Owners John and Margaret Kelly praised the contributions of Tander and Crawford, saying they had been instrumental in the team’s back-to-back championship successes.
“Garth slotted straight into the team when he arrived three years ago, and formed a formidable combination with Rick (Kelly) and the engineers and crew,” John Kelly said.
“Now that he has ticked the box of the Drivers Championship, we understand why he now wants to take this new opportunity. He goes with our best wishes.”
Kelly also praised the efforts of Crawford, who oversaw the growth of the team from the fledgling Holden Young Lions into Kmart Racing and finally, HSV Dealer Team.
“Rob built the team virtually from scratch, taking it from an off-shoot of the Holden Racing Team into the best team in pit lane,” he said.
“Erik has been his understudy for many years, and we are confident he will have no trouble making the transition.”
Dumbrell, who became the youngest ever driver to race V8 Supercars at the age of 16 years, 11 months and 24 days in 1999, joins Toll HSV from Supercheap Auto Racing.
The Melbourne driver cut his teeth in Formula Holden, where he spent two seasons (1999-2000), before moving to the V8 Development Series in 2001.
He finished a narrow second place in the series to Simon Wills in his first season before taking out the title in his second year.
That same year, he was signed to drive alongside Larry Perkins in the endurance races, coming seventh in the Queensland 500 and fifth at Bathurst.
He raced full-time with Perkins’ race team from 2003 to 2006, again coming fifth at Bathurst in his final year there.
In 2007 he joined Supercheap Auto Racing alongside Cameron McConville, but started looking for a new driving seat with the announcement that SCAR would close at the end of 2007.
He says he is thrilled to have landed a drive with the championship-winning team.
“This team has proved over the past two years that it is second to none, winning both the Drivers and Teams Championships back to back,” he said. “It is the opportunity I have been waiting for, and I didn’t have to think twice about it.”
Newly appointed Team Manager Erik Pender joined the team in 1999 after successful stints in Formula 2 and Formula Holden with drivers such as Arthur Abrahams and Mark Noske.
Queensland-raised Pender was a technician and data engineer in the Young Lions days before going on to become Team Engineer on Greg Murphy’s Kmart Commodore in a successful partnership that delivered many race successes, including back-to-back Bathurst wins with Murphy and Rick Kelly in 2003-4.
Pender has engineered Rick Kelly’s Commodore over the past three years in a stint that netted the 2006 Drivers Championship.
Kiwi international Paul Radisich, who has agreed to return to the team for the enduros, drove with Kelly to second place in the Sandown 500 this year.
The team looks forward to welcoming him back to again bolster the driving ranks while also playing a support role throughout the season.
Related Videos (http://www.v8supercar.com.au/news/latestnews/newsdisplay.asp?Ind=&author=&gid=32677640#relatedVids) Related Photos (http://www.v8supercar.com.au/news/latestnews/newsdisplay.asp?Ind=&author=&gid=32677640#relatedPhotos)
Teams Toll HSV Dealer (http://www.v8supercar.com.au/teams/teamdetails.asp?ind=&tid=70)
Dumbrell, 25, replaces newly-crowned champion Garth Tander who shifts to the Holden Racing Team after three successful years with Toll HSV.
The team also announced that current team Team Engineer, Erik Pender, had been promoted to Team Manager, replacing Rob Crawford who is also transferring to HRT as Team Manager.
Erik’s current role as Rick Kelly’s engineer will be filled by Alistair McVean, from Walkinshaw Performance.
As well, the team has signed an agreement with dual World Touring Cup winner Paul Radisich to return to the team for the 2008 enduros, while also playing a support role throughout the season.
In making the announcements, Team Owners John and Margaret Kelly praised the contributions of Tander and Crawford, saying they had been instrumental in the team’s back-to-back championship successes.
“Garth slotted straight into the team when he arrived three years ago, and formed a formidable combination with Rick (Kelly) and the engineers and crew,” John Kelly said.
“Now that he has ticked the box of the Drivers Championship, we understand why he now wants to take this new opportunity. He goes with our best wishes.”
Kelly also praised the efforts of Crawford, who oversaw the growth of the team from the fledgling Holden Young Lions into Kmart Racing and finally, HSV Dealer Team.
“Rob built the team virtually from scratch, taking it from an off-shoot of the Holden Racing Team into the best team in pit lane,” he said.
“Erik has been his understudy for many years, and we are confident he will have no trouble making the transition.”
Dumbrell, who became the youngest ever driver to race V8 Supercars at the age of 16 years, 11 months and 24 days in 1999, joins Toll HSV from Supercheap Auto Racing.
The Melbourne driver cut his teeth in Formula Holden, where he spent two seasons (1999-2000), before moving to the V8 Development Series in 2001.
He finished a narrow second place in the series to Simon Wills in his first season before taking out the title in his second year.
That same year, he was signed to drive alongside Larry Perkins in the endurance races, coming seventh in the Queensland 500 and fifth at Bathurst.
He raced full-time with Perkins’ race team from 2003 to 2006, again coming fifth at Bathurst in his final year there.
In 2007 he joined Supercheap Auto Racing alongside Cameron McConville, but started looking for a new driving seat with the announcement that SCAR would close at the end of 2007.
He says he is thrilled to have landed a drive with the championship-winning team.
“This team has proved over the past two years that it is second to none, winning both the Drivers and Teams Championships back to back,” he said. “It is the opportunity I have been waiting for, and I didn’t have to think twice about it.”
Newly appointed Team Manager Erik Pender joined the team in 1999 after successful stints in Formula 2 and Formula Holden with drivers such as Arthur Abrahams and Mark Noske.
Queensland-raised Pender was a technician and data engineer in the Young Lions days before going on to become Team Engineer on Greg Murphy’s Kmart Commodore in a successful partnership that delivered many race successes, including back-to-back Bathurst wins with Murphy and Rick Kelly in 2003-4.
Pender has engineered Rick Kelly’s Commodore over the past three years in a stint that netted the 2006 Drivers Championship.
Kiwi international Paul Radisich, who has agreed to return to the team for the enduros, drove with Kelly to second place in the Sandown 500 this year.
The team looks forward to welcoming him back to again bolster the driving ranks while also playing a support role throughout the season.
Related Videos (http://www.v8supercar.com.au/news/latestnews/newsdisplay.asp?Ind=&author=&gid=32677640#relatedVids) Related Photos (http://www.v8supercar.com.au/news/latestnews/newsdisplay.asp?Ind=&author=&gid=32677640#relatedPhotos)
Teams Toll HSV Dealer (http://www.v8supercar.com.au/teams/teamdetails.asp?ind=&tid=70)