EREBUS Motorsport CEO Barry Ryan believes his team is back on an upward trajectory towards Supercars success, much like four years ago.
Since winning both the drivers’ and teams’ championships in 2023 and the Bathurst 1000 the following season, it has been slim pickings from a results standpoint.
It is approaching two full years since Erebus last scored a podium, although it did go mightily close to a boilover result in last year’s Great Race via Cooper Murray and Jobe Stewart.
Twelve months on, Murray and Stewart are the primaries with Lochie Dalton and Jarrod Hughes their respective co-drivers, and momentum is building into Bathurst.
“We have got four really strong drivers to go there with,” Ryan said on MotorRacing 360.
“We’re really prepared and have got a great crew chief in Brad Tremain coming back.
“We’re just getting back to where we were in probably 2022, building up for a couple of really strong years where we can try to take a championship again in a few years – which looks unlikely from where we are in pitlane at the moment, but we’re building well.”
Speculation is mounting that Hughes will graduate full-time with Erebus next year; Ryan did not specifically address that but did assert that both he and Dalton are ready.
“They both deserve a shot, whether it’s in one of our cars or someone else takes them, I’ll be hoping those two get the chance as soon as they can,” he said.
Ryan also doubled down on the comments he made earlier this year regarding Chevrolet’s lack of ‘A-grade’ drivers.
“Anton, he’s a pro. He has got a couple of wins this year, he’s leading the Chevy charge, and Ojeda has done a mega job,” said Ryan.
“He is a guy that drives every weekend so he’s a pro and he is working towards being an A-grader for sure, and Anton is very close. He has just got to consistently win races.
“In my book, if you have only won five percent of your races or less in your career, how can you be called an A-grader?”
As for parity, Ryan labelled the pre-Bend Camaro tweak a “nothing change” and reiterated his dismay at what transpired in the off-season when Chevrolet unexpectedly was switched from being the datum car at the Windshear wind tunnel.
“History shows they did the wrong thing and we’re trying to get it back to where it should be,” he said.
“The sensitivity of these cars is so critical that all of a sudden in the off-season you change something and you think it’s not much, but it has made a huge difference.”
Track action at Mount Panorama starts next Thursday.
Clear As Mud! | The Undercut
THE Undercut returns, breaking down the latest news in the world of Supercars racing!