{"id":262991,"date":"2025-11-04T23:13:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T23:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/262991\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T23:13:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T23:13:18","slug":"supercars-2026-rookie-rylan-gray-talks-dick-johnson-racing-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/262991\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars 2026 rookie Rylan Gray talks Dick Johnson Racing pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

THERE is a certain pressure that comes with representing Dick Johnson<\/a> Racing. Rylan Gray<\/a> knows it, and he\u2019s ready for it.<\/p>\n

For the teen rookie, it\u2019s the double-edged sword associated with graduating straight to a high-profile Supercars seat: with opportunity comes expectation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get some pressure driving for DJR because it\u2019s such a prestigious team, but I think you don\u2019t really need to put any more or less stress on yourself,\u201d he told V8 Sleuth.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go to the track and you\u2019re racing a car the same as you\u2019ve done throughout your whole career, but just on a higher level. It\u2019s what I have done my whole life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thrive under pressure. I don\u2019t really get affected too much by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: Dick Johnson Racing\u2019s youngest Supercars drivers<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

To Gray\u2019s credit, he\u2019s yet to show any signs of cracking under the spotlight.<\/p>\n

He performed strongly on Super3 debut two years ago in Adelaide. He hasn\u2019t skipped a beat since stepping up to Super2, becoming the youngest-ever round winner and now being on track to win the 2025 title. And he didn\u2019t put a foot wrong in three main game wildcards for Tickford this year.<\/p>\n

Beyond the chance to seal the second-tier crown later this month awaits a guarantee that he\u2019ll be Brodie Kostecki\u2019s 2026 teammate<\/a>, replacing Will Davison<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely hasn\u2019t sunk in yet,\u201d said Gray.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sit here and think to myself that I\u2019ll be driving there next year and it doesn\u2019t really feel real. Once I get in with the team and meet everyone, then it will start to put everything into motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s a dream come true for me.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rylan Gray. Pic: Mark Walker<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it has fast-tracked my progression to be honest, like I think this is only my fifth season of racing, so to make it into main game Supercars is very cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray had been connected to all sorts of silly season openings, but the deeper into the year it got, the more it seemed possible he could be left standing when the music stopped.<\/p>\n

Instead, a golden opportunity has arisen, with Gray inking a multi-year deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely ideal to stay in the Ford family, but you don\u2019t really get a choice in main game; either you go GM or Ford,\u201d said the 18-year-old, who will relocate to the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really lucky to be in the Ford family because pretty much my whole life has been with Ford.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THERE is a certain pressure that comes with representing Dick Johnson Racing. Rylan Gray knows it, and he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-262991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}