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Erebus Motorsport
ManufacturerHolden
Team PrincipalBetty Klimenko
Race Drivers9. David Reynolds
99. Anton de Pasquale
Race Engineers9. Alistair McVean
ChassisZB Commodore
Debut2013
Drivers' Championships0
Round wins0
Race wins3
Pole positions2
2017 position5th (3477 pts)

Erebus Motorsport, formerly known as Erebus Racing, is an Australian motor racing team. The team competes in the Australian GT Championship with a pair of Mercedes-Benz SLS AMGs as well as the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship with two Holden ZB Commodores. The team's current Supercars drivers are David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale.

The team is owned by Betty Klimenko and is based in Melbourne. The GT team was launched in 2011, while the Supercars team was formed in 2013 after the purchase of Stone Brothers Racing.

Racing history

GT

A Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG prepared by Erebus Motorsport and driven by Thomas Jäger, Alexander Roloff and Bernd Schneider to victory in the 2013 Bathurst 12 Hour

The team, then known as Erebus Racing, formed in 2011 when the team's first Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 car arrived from Europe. In the 2011 Australian GT Championship season, early season problems, coupled with the car not being ready until Round 3,[1] limited driver Peter Hackett's championship run and he finished fourth. He did claim race wins at Phillip Island and at Mount Panorama along the way. Early 2012 provided the teams highlight to date, with second place in the 2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour with V8 Supercar driver Tim Slade and European GT racers Jeroen Bleekemolen and Bret Curtis co-driving with Hackett.

The team expanded to a second car for the 2012 Australian GT Championship season with former V8 Utes and Nations Cup GT racer James Brock (the son of the late nine-time Bathurst 1000 winner Peter Brock) added as the second driver.[2] After a crash in the opening round at the Clipsal 500 which put Hackett behind, he quickly got himself into the lead of the Championship. He led from round four through to the final round at Homebush, where he crashed in the opening race. He would go on to finish the championship in second place behind Klark Quinn.

Brock started the season strongly with a podium in Adelaide. A heavy crash at Phillip Island slid him down the order. After re-building the #62 from scratch, he suffered another crash at Sydney Motorsport Park, resulting in another write-off. For the remaining three events of the season, Brock was replaced by a group of European-based AMG Customer Sports factory drivers. Maro Engel.[3] was the first, winning the round at Phillip Island, before FIA GT1 World Team Champion, Thomas Jäger joined the team. At the final round in Homebush, five times DTM Champion, Bernd Schneider joined the team and comprehensively dominated the weekend.

In February 2013, the team entered the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour with its two Mercedes SLS AMG GT3s. #36 was piloted by Bernd Schneider, Thomas Jäger and Alex Roloff, while car #63 was piloted by regular driver Peter Hackett and V8 Supercars drivers Lee Holdsworth and Tim Slade. It was car #63 that would take pole position on the Saturday, with Lee Holdsworth behind the wheel, with a 2.06.22, but could only finish the race in 6th position, five laps behind the race winners after an incident late in the race whilst leading. This left the #36 machine to take the team's first Bathurst 12 Hour victory and added this race to the Dubai 24 Hour victory for Schneider and the AMG Customer Sports program. They ended the dramatic race with a lead well over a lap on the second and third placed cars. Roloff had the honour to take the chequered flag surviving the mixed conditions without radio contact to the team. The team struggled in that year's Australian GT season, with Jack Le Brocq only managing ninth in the points.

In 2014, the team finished third in the Bathurst 12 Hour, with Greg Crick, Will Davison and Jack Le Brocq behind the wheel. Their other entry, driven by Maro Engel, set pole position and in doing so won the first Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy.[4] In the 2014 Australian GT Championship, Erebus won the title with Richard Muscat driving.

In the 2015 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, the team's leading entry was the Dean Canto, Le Brocq and Muscat SLS AMG, which finished in fifth position.

In the 2016 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, the team’s leading entry was the Thomas Jäger, Nico Bastian and V8 Supercar driver David Reynolds SLS AMG, which finished in fifth position, A second SLS AMG was entered for Bernd Schneider, Maro Engel and Austin Cindric, however the car did not finish after Cindric hit the wall at the end of Mountain Straight.

Supercars Championship

Mercedes-Benz E63 W212 of Maro Engel at the Sydney Motorsport Park test day in 2013.
Mercedes-Benz E63 W212 of Lee Holdsworth at the Sydney Motorsport Park test day in 2014.

In September 2012, Erebus Motorsport announced it was in the process of purchasing Stone Brothers Racing and would enter the 2013 International V8 Supercars Championship, competing with three Mercedes-Benz E63 W212s entered under the category's new "Car of the Future" regulations. The sale was finalised in January 2013,[5] with the team purchasing one Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) and leasing a second from the Stone Brothers,[6] whilst operating a third car on behalf of satellite team James Rosenberg Racing. With Shane Van Gisbergen leaving the team at the end of the 2012 season, Erebus recruited former DTM driver Maro Engel as his replacement, whilst retaining Lee Holdsworth and Tim Slade in the other two cars.

For 2014, the team scaled back to a two-car operation with the James Rosenberg Racing REC and Tim Slade both moving to Walkinshaw Racing.[7][8] Will Davison replaced Maro Engel.[9] Lee Holdsworth scored the team's first race win at Winton in April 2014.[10]

In 2015, Ashley Walsh replaced Lee Holdsworth as the driver for Car #4.[11] Will Davison secured the team's second V8 Supercar race win at the 2015 Ubet Perth Super Sprint at Barbagallo Raceway. [12]

The team operated from the team from the former Stone Brothers Racing premises in Yatala on the Gold Coast until the end of the 2015 season, when it moved its V8 Supercars and GT operations under one roof in Moorabbin, Melbourne.[13] This was replaced by a new facility in Dandenong in mid-2016 after its previous facility became too small.[14]

David Reynolds replaced Will Davison for the 2016 Championship, with Davison moving to Tekno Autosports.[15] Reynolds was joined by Aaren Russell with the team switching from running the E63 W212s to a pair of Holden Commodore VFs.[16][17] Russell split with the team after the Townsville 400 round, and was replaced by Craig Baird for Ipswich. Shae Davies raced the teams #4 Entry for the remainder of the 2016 Season.[18]

For 2017, Reynolds remained with the team, while Dale Wood replaced Davies as the driver of the newly renumbered #99 Entry. [19] Reynolds, partnered with Luke Youlden, won the rain-affected 2017 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, while Wood - partnered by Chris Pither - finished a season-best 4th in his final year as a full-time driver. In October 2017, Wood announced that he would no longer be continuing his full-time drive with the team into 2018. His replacement will be 2017 Dunlop Super2 Series competitor, Anton de Pasquale.

Other

Guy Stewart formerly drove the team's Aurion-Yamaha in the Aussie Racing Cars series, and the team was also involved in a V8 Utes team with Adam Marjoram driving. The team formerly ran a Mygale F3 car labelled Erebus Academy, racing in Australian Formula 3 with Jack Le Brocq driving. Members of the Erebus Academy development program have included Le Brocq, Adam Marjoram and Richard Muscat.

Supercars Championship drivers

The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the Supercars Championship, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics.

See also

References

  1. ^ Mercedes GT3 undergoes parity testing Speedcafe 27 May 2011
  2. ^ Brock & Benz ...A Dream GT Combo Spherix Management
  3. ^ European drivers to bolster Erebus Motorsport Australian GT campaign Archived September 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Erebus Motorsport
  4. ^ "Erebus Steals Pole from Favourites on the Mountain". Bathurst 12 Hour. 8 February 2014. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Erebus Motorsport completes SBR take over Speedcafe 8 January 2013
  6. ^ Ross Stone says timing was right to sell V8 team Speedcafe 8 January 2013
  7. ^ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (29 November 2013). "Walkinshaw confirms expansion four cars". SpeedCafe. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  8. ^ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (29 November 2013). "Erebus confirms two-car structure for 2014". SpeedCafe. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  9. ^ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (6 January 2014). "Erebus owner confirms Will Davison for 2014". SpeedCafe. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  10. ^ "Holdsworth hands Erebus maiden V8 Supercars win". SpeedCafe. 5 April 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  11. ^ "Rising Star Ash Walsh to join Erebus in 2015". V8 Supercars. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  12. ^ "Davison wins in Perth thriller". V8 Supercars. 3 May 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  13. ^ "Erebus moves to Melbourne". V8 Supercars. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  14. ^ "Erebus makes statement with new factory". Speedcafe. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  15. ^ "Erebus signs Reynolds". V8 Supercars. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  16. ^ "Erebus motorsport signs rookie Aaren Russell to race for the team in 2016". Fox Sports. 12 January 2016.
  17. ^ "Erebus Motorsport chooses to race Holdens in 2016". Erebus Motorsport V8. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  18. ^ "Davies secures full-time Erebus Supercar seat". Speedcafe. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  19. ^ "Dale Wood secures two-year Erebus deal". Speedcafe. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
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