DJR secures sponsorship deal.

[TS-50]

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsp...ltimilliondollar-backing-20161003-grtxjv.html


Supercars institution DJR Team Penske has secured multi-million dollar backing from its oldest partner for an all-out assault on the V8 title from next year.
Fuel and lubricants giant Shell will return as the title sponsor of the team, founded by Ford folk hero Dick Johnson in 1980, in a multi-year deal that reunites one of the most successful alliances in Australian touring car racing history.

DJR Team Penske lead driver Fabian Coulthard in foreground, with V8 legend Dick Johnson in background of team's new Shell V-Power Racing look for Bathburst 1000 Photo: supplied Along with the signing of rising Supercars star Scott McLaughlin, who will replace Scott Pye alongside this year's recruit Fabian Coulthard, Shell's big-money support will underpin DJR Team Penske's declared ambition to become a championship contender in 2017.
It will be the first time the team has had the same primary sponsor since American racing legend Roger Penske bought a controlling interest in Johnson's operation last year.
Penske's takeover resulted in the team adopting a commercial model similar to its IndyCar and NASCAR teams in the US, racing with different primary sponsors, including Shell, at each event last year and again this year.
From next year, both freshman McLaughlin's and sophomore Coulthard's DJR Team Penske Ford Falcon FG Xs will run under the Shell V-Power Racing banner.
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To be announced on Tuesday, the team's new look will be previewed at this week's Bathurst 1000.
Both Coulthard's and Pye's Falcons will race at Mount Panorama in Shell V-Power liveries, appearing in their new colours for the first time in practice on Thursday ahead of Sunday's race.
The Supercheap Autos Bathurst 1000 will be the start of a concerted end-of-season push by DJR Team Penske to score its first race win since Penske's takeover in preparation for its aim to become a consistent front-runner next year.
The team is pinning its hopes of returning to DJR's glory days in the 1980s and '90s on the arrival of McLaughlin, who with fellow New Zealander Coulthard is expected to form a pace-setting combination.
"With a strong driver line-up, we believe our third year in the Supercars championship will continue our move up the grid," Roger Penske said.
DJR Team Penske is the longest-established team in Supercars and among the most successful historically.
As Dick Johnson Racing, it has won the Australian touring car/Supercars championship seven times and scored three triumphs at Bathurst since 1980.
The team's last major success was the 2010 Supercars drivers' championship with James Courtney, but before Penske's injection of much-needed funds and technical expertise, it had been on the verge of collapse.
Shell has been its longest-running sponsor, backing the squad at various levels since the early '80s. It was DJR's main or co-sponsor from 1987-2004 and has remained a minor backer since.
Shell also has close ties with Penske in the US as a major backer of his title-winning IndyCar team – for which Australian Will Power drives – and his front-running NASCAR Sprint Cup entries.
Shell's return as DJR Team Penske's primary backer next year coincides with the 50th anniversary of the oil company's association with V8 legend Johnson, who starred in memorable TV ads for the brand in the late '80s and early '90s.
The new deal is worth at least $4 million over three years, while the team's budget will be further boosted by existing one-off race sponsors such as Pirtek, MTU, Western Star Trucks, Hog's Breath Cafes and PPG staying on as lucrative minor backers.

 

[Car61]

Link to the Announcement Video...

<<HERE>>


Looking at the side of the cars.... can't help thinking there's a nice spot (to the right of 'Shell' & above 'Power') for a door number to return?

 

[Gerry]

I've been out of action and haven't seen or heard anything but this is fantastic news to see for the first time!

 

[Nascar12]

That is fantastic news, and testament to Dick Johnson (and the crew at DJR Team Penske) with his professional attitude to the business.

So many others would have been sooking and bad mouthing a sponsor when they pull their support way back then. But Dick maintained their relationship as a minor sponsor, though those very tough 12 or more years without Shell.

Very proud to be a fan of this team!

 

[TS-50]

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au...s/news-story/4e4378d5d4e593bc6bfbde70307671e8

Supercars legend Dick Johnson assures fans his Gold Coast-based DJR Team Penske squad will stick with V8s

Connor O’Brien, Gold Coast Bulletin
October 14, 2016 12:00am

SUPERCARS legend Dick Johnson has assured fans his Gold Coast team will stick with V8 engines into the foreseeable future.

The series has already dropped “V8” from its name, with regulations to be relaxed next year as the move into the Gen2 era becomes reality.
In a bid to attract and retain manufacturer support, Gen2 will open the door for entries with non-V8 engines and non-sedan bodyshapes.
Johnson, though, says he is not fully convinced by the direction the sport is heading and vowed not to steer away from using V8s at his DJR Team Penske squad.
“Only time will tell,” he said of how Gen2 would fare.

“I’m not a great fan of it but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a good thing.
“It’s just the fact that we have kind of been down that road before and we saw the error of our ways and changed things, so let’s wait and see if we can make things a bit better this time.
“But we’re certainly not going to change anything, that’s for sure.”
Elaborating further on the category’s previous trip down the deregulated path — the Group A rules introduced in 1985 — Johnson said: “It was OK for a short period of time but then the wheels started to fall off it a bit”.
“We brought different brands of cars out here … it was all right for a while but the cars that we were using weren’t representative of what was being sold in the country, so I think people got a little bit sick of it and we found the numbers were dropping off and that.
“So as a group, we sat down and said we need to bring this back to where it will work and the general consensus of opinion was let’s go back to Ford and Holden battles and V8s.
“That’s what we did and that’s why we have got what we have today.”

The Ford icon said he wanted to continue running Falcons, despite a lack of financial support from the Blue Oval.
“We’re at a situation where we’re running the current cars that we have got at the moment next year and then we’ll see where it goes from there,” Johnson said.
“But for me, my certain preference is obviously to stay with the Blue Oval, mate, because you wouldn’t catch me up the top of the mountain with anything else on my shirt, otherwise they’d kill me.”

Johnson wants to carry the team’s Bathurst form, where Scott Pye and Fabian Coulthard placed fifth and sixth respectively, into the Gold Coast 600 next weekend.
And he is not ruling out the chance of victory at their home race.
“As long as the cars are fast and reliable, which they are, it’s then up to the boys and also our strategies to make sure we’re in the right place at the right time,” he said.

.Johnson will attend the Surfers Paradise round for the first time in years after his annual fishing trip — his treasured getaway — to Swains Reef off central Queensland was pushed back a week.
“(Gold Coast 600) is one of our signature events and fortunately for me, this year I’ll be at the event,” he said.

 

[Poita]

Also according to what Ryan told me at Bathurst, there is another major announcement coming, he wouldn't elaborate but I'm guessing a deal with Ford using a Mustang body.

 

[Gerry]

Also according to what Ryan told me at Bathurst, there is another major announcement coming, he wouldn't elaborate but I'm guessing a deal with Ford using a Mustang body.

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