THE highest profile domino in the Supercars silly season belongs to Team 18, but don’t expect a decision on the identity of Anton De Pasquale’s 2027 teammate any time soon.
That’s the vibe from team principal Adrian Burgess, as eight-time race winner David Reynolds again finds himself at the centre of driver market conjecture.
Team 18 activated a one-year option to bring Reynolds back for this season, something which it waited until last October to formally announce.
With Matt Payne seemingly committed to seeing out the final year of his Grove Racing contract, Team 18 holds the only potential vacancy in the top half of the Supercars pitlane.
Aside from runner-up finishes in the 2025 Bathurst 1000 and this year at Symmons Plains, Reynolds has generally struggled to match De Pasquale in the past 18 months.
If Team 18 is able to lure Payne across for ’28, and re-sign De Pasquale as is expected, then there might only be a one-year window to fill Car #20 – possibly complicating any effort to recruit an external stopgap.
Asked after the Perth Super440, where De Pasquale collected two podiums, whether there is a timeline on the Reynolds decision, Burgess replied: “No. We’re focusing on each weekend as it comes.
David Reynolds. Pic: Ross Gibb
“We’re focusing on keeping Anton in the finals, we’re focusing on trying to get Dave into the finals.
“Those things will take care of themselves when they need to.
“At the moment we’re a long way off needing to really worry about that.”
The other seats thought likely to factor in the silly season are Erebus Motorsport’s #99 and PremiAir Racing’s #777.