Team 18

Team 18 (formerly known as Charlie Schwerkolt Racing) is an Australian motor racing team^[2] currently competing in the Supercars Championship, running two Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s. The team's current drivers are Mark Winterbottom and David Reynolds.

Team 18

Manufacturer	Chevrolet
Team Principal	Adrian Burgess
Race Drivers	18. Anton DePasquale 20. David Reynolds
Race Engineers	18. Som Sharma[1] 20. Richard Hollway[1]
Chassis	Camaro ZL1
Debut	2013
Drivers' Championships	0
Round wins	0
Race wins	1
Pole positions	1
2020 position	6th (3122 pts)

History

Background

The team is owned by Gold Coast businessman Charlie Schwerkolt, who previously had a shareholding in Dick Johnson Racing. The relationship between Schwerkolt and Dick Johnson broke down at the end of 2010, the year James Courtney won the championship for the team. As part of the split Schwerkolt retained ownership of one of the two Racing Entitlement Contracts (RECs).^[3]

Schwerkolt had attempted to conclude a deal to run a fourth car out of Ford Performance Racing with Courtney driving, but after Courtney signed to drive with the Holden Racing Team, the deal collapsed.^[4] The REC was instead leased to Dick Johnson Racing for James Moffat's entry for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.^[3]

Satellite team

The Ford FG Falcon as driven in 2014 by Jack Perkins

Holden Commodore ZB driven by Lee Holdsworth for Team 18 in the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship

With the rules governing the use of Racing Entitlement Contracts dictating that Schwerkolt could only lease his to one party for two years, he either had to sell it, lease it to another party, or use it himself. Schwerkolt decided on the latter and came to an agreement with Ford Performance Racing to operate a fully supported customer car as a satellite of the main FPR team in much the same manner as Rod Nash Racing.^[5] Alex Davison drove the Jeld-Wen supported car in 2013,^[6] taking one podium at the Phillip Island event and finishing the season in 13th. In 2014, Jack Perkins replaced Davison but could only manage 23rd in the championship.^[7]

For 2015, Lee Holdsworth became the team's driver.^[8] The team had originally intended to remain in their existing relationship with Ford Performance Racing (now known as Tickford Racing), but they were replaced by Super Black Racing as the Ford team's second customer partnership. Instead, the team became a satellite team to the Holden Racing Team, and ran a Holden VF Commodore.^[9] Holdsworth finished 14th in the championship.

Independent team

In 2016, Team 18 began operating as an independent entity using a Triple Eight Race Engineering-built Commodore. Jeff Grech, the former Holden Racing Team team manager from 1993 to 2006, became team manager with backing from Preston Hire. It was a difficult season for the outfit, with Holdsworth suffering a major accident at the Darwin event, leaving him with a fractured pelvis and out of action for three rounds. He was replaced with Kurt Kostecki for Townsville and Ipswich (having borrowed the teenagers' Development Series chassis) and Karl Reindler for Sydney Motorsport Park. The team did not fare well in Holdsworth's return for the Enduro Cup either, retiring from the Bathurst 1000 after two laps with a broken rocker, as well as one of the Gold Coast 600 races after Reindler crashed exiting turn three. The team finished 15th in the teams' championship, beating only Britek Motorsport and the 'Supergirls' wildcard.

Holdsworth remained at the team for 2017, starting with two midfield finishes at the Adelaide 500 before being involved in a high-speed crash with Nick Percat at the non-championship round at the Australian Grand Prix, after Percat lost braking entering turn one. The team avoided the multi-car pile-up in Tasmania, however, were caught out in the changeable conditions on the Sunday, finishing 17th. The team continued to run midfield throughout the season, Holdsworth ending the season 16th in the standings with a best result of 4th on the Saturday at the Newcastle 500. Holdsworth did not finish in the top ten again until one year later in Newcastle, enduring a difficult 2018 campaign that was hampered by reliability issues, ending up in 21st in the championship.^[10]

Ahead of the 2019 Supercars Championship, the team acquired the services of 2015 series champion Mark Winterbottom, in what became a switch of seats with Holdsworth going to Tickford Racing.^[10] As part of Winterbottom's arrival, the team also re-branded with backing from Stanley Black & Decker's Irwin Industrial Tools, hired new staff including team manager Steve Henderson and engineer Phil Keed and upgraded their customer relationship with Triple Eight Race Engineering.^[11] The changes brought an immediate upturn in results with two top-ten finishes at the Adelaide 500 before Winterbottom took the team's first pole position at the Tasmania SuperSprint.^[12] In 2020 the team will expand to two cars with a second REC purchased from Kelly Racing, again with backing from Stanley Black & Decker, this time from their DeWalt brand with Scott Pye recruited from Walkinshaw Andretti United.^[13]

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.

• Alex Davison (2013)
• John McIntyre (2013)
• Jack Perkins (2014)
• Cam Waters (2014)
• Lee Holdsworth (2015–18)
• Sébastien Bourdais (2015)
• Kurt Kostecki (2016)
• Karl Reindler (2016–17)
• Jason Bright (2018)
• Mark Winterbottom (2019–present)
• Steven Richards (2019)
• Scott Pye (2020–2023)
• James Golding (2020–2021)
• Dean Fiore (2020)
• Michael Caruso (2021–present)
• Tyler Everingham (2022)
• Warren Luff (2023)
• David Reynolds (2024)

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	No.	Car	Drivers	Position	Laps
2013	18	Ford Falcon FG	Alex Davison John McIntyre	13th	161
2014	18	Ford Falcon FG	Jack Perkins Cam Waters	12th	161
2015	18	Holden Commodore VF	Lee Holdsworth Sébastien Bourdais	9th	161
2016	18	Holden Commodore VF	Lee Holdsworth Karl Reindler	DNF	2
2017	18	Holden Commodore VF	Lee Holdsworth Karl Reindler	DNF	76
2018	18	Holden Commodore ZB	Lee Holdsworth Jason Bright	21st	157
2019	18	Holden Commodore ZB	Mark Winterbottom Steven Richards	6th	161
2020	18	Holden Commodore ZB	Mark Winterbottom James Golding	8th	161
	20	Holden Commodore ZB	Scott Pye Dean Fiore	6th	161
2021	18	Holden Commodore ZB	Mark Winterbottom Michael Caruso	16th	161
	20	Holden Commodore ZB	Scott Pye James Golding	DNF	3
2022	18	Holden Commodore ZB	Mark Winterbottom Michael Caruso	15th	161
	20	Holden Commodore ZB	Scott Pye Tyler Everingham	16th	161
2023	18	Chevrolet Camaro ZL1-1LE	Mark Winterbottom Michael Caruso	DNF	160
	20	Chevrolet Camaro ZL1-1LE	Scott Pye Warren Luff	17th	160
2024	18	Chevrolet Camaro ZL1-1LE	Mark Winterbottom Michael Caruso	18th	161
	20	Chevrolet Camaro ZL1-1LE	David Reynolds Warren Luff	24th	159

Car results

Car No. 18 results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	Position	Pts
2015	Lee Holdsworth	Holden	18	ADE R1 9	ADE R2 10	ADE R3 Ret	SYM R4 22	SYM R5 11	SYM R6 16	BAR R7 14	BAR R8 14	BAR R9 17	WIN R10 18	WIN R11 Ret	WIN R12 15	HID R13 13	HID R14 18	HID R15 18	TOW R16 13	TOW R17 7	QLD R18 15	QLD R19 21	QLD R20 18	SMP R21 14	SMP R22 7	SMP R23 13	SAN QR 7	SAN R24 7	BAT R25 9	SUR R26 Ret	SUR R27 14	PUK R28 13	PUK R29 16	PUK R30 8	PHI R31 16	PHI R32 18	PHI R33 Ret	SYD R34 18	SYD R35 10	SYD R36 7				14th	1699
2016				ADE R1 23	ADE R2 21	ADE R3 18	SYM R4 12	SYM R5 9	PHI R6 15	PHI R7 19	BAR R8 15	BAR R9 12	WIN R10 10	WIN R11 Ret	HID R12 8	HID R13 Ret	TOW R14	TOW R15	QLD R16	QLD R17	SMP R18	SMP R19	SAN QR 15	SAN R20 12	BAT R21 Ret	SUR R22 Ret	SUR R23 7	PUK R24 15	PUK R25 19	PUK R26 14	PUK R27 15	SYD R28 16	SYD R29 15											24th	1114
	Kurt Kostecki			ADE R1	ADE R2	ADE R3	SYM R4	SYM R5	PHI R6	PHI R7	BAR R8	BAR R9	WIN R10	WIN R11	HID R12	HID R13	TOW R14 25	TOW R15 Ret	QLD R16 23	QLD R17 21	SMP R18	SMP R19	SAN R20	BAT R21	SUR R22	SUR R23	PUK R24	PUK R25	PUK R26	PUK R27	SYD R28	SYD R29												55th	108
	Karl Reindler			ADE R1	ADE R2	ADE R3	SYM R4	SYM R5	PHI R6	PHI R7	BAR R8	BAR R9	WIN R10	WIN R11	HID R12	HID R13	TOW R14	TOW R15	QLD R16	QLD R17	SMP R18 22	SMP R19 23	SAN R20	BAT R21	SUR R22	SUR R23	PUK R24	PUK R25	PUK R26	PUK R27	SYD R28	SYD R29												45th	309
2017	Lee Holdsworth			ADE R1 13	ADE R2 18	SYM R3 12	SYM R4 17	PHI R5 22	PHI R6 5	BAR R7 15	BAR R8 20	WIN R9 11	WIN R10 10	HID R11 10	HID R12 12	TOW R13 11	TOW R14 15	QLD R15 12	QLD R16 20	SMP R17 15	SMP R18 15	SAN QR 12	SAN R19 8	BAT R20 Ret	SUR R21 Ret	SUR R22 8	PUK R23 10	PUK R24 Ret	NEW R25 4	NEW R26 8														16th	1647
2018				ADE R1 12	ADE R2 24	MEL R3 19	MEL R4 15	MEL R5 19	MEL R6 23	SYM R7 11	SYM R8 23	PHI R9 22	PHI R10 25	BAR R11 23	BAR R12 18	WIN R13 23	WIN R14 21	HID R15 21	HID R16 Ret	TOW R17 18	TOW R18 15	QLD R19 24	QLD R20 21	SMP R21 12	BEN R22 20	BEN R23 Ret	SAN QR 21	SAN R24 23	BAT R25 21	SUR R26 15	SUR R27 C	PUK R28 15	PUK R29 14	NEW R30 12	NEW R31 9									21st	1443
2019	Mark Winterbottom			ADE R1 9	ADE R2 6	MEL R3 12	MEL R4 11	MEL R5 13	MEL R6 6	SYM R7 4	SYM R8 6	PHI R9 21	PHI R10 17	BAR R11 18	BAR R12 15	WIN R13 9	WIN R14 22	HID R15 17	HID R16 12	TOW R17 9	TOW R18 Ret	QLD R19 15	QLD R20 10	BEN R21 4	BEN R22 23	PUK R23 22	PUK R24 8	BAT R25 6	SUR R26 12	SUR R27 19	SAN QR 15	SAN R28 12	NEW R29 10	NEW R30 14										13th	2092
2020				ADE R1 8	ADE R2 11	MEL R3 C	MEL R4 C	MEL R5 C	MEL R6 C	SMP1 R7 9	SMP1 R8 8	SMP1 R9 5	SMP2 R10 10	SMP2 R11 14	SMP2 R12 6	HID1 R13 4	HID1 R14 11	HID1 R15 7	HID2 R16 11	HID2 R17 9	HID2 R18 4	TOW1 R19 12	TOW1 R20 17	TOW1 R21 10	TOW2 R22 14	TOW2 R23 9	TOW2 R24 13	BEN1 R25 17	BEN1 R26 15	BEN1 R27 Ret	BEN2 R28 8	BEN2 R29 12	BEN2 R30 16	BAT R31 8										10th	1566
2021				BAT R1 4	BAT R2 5	SAN R3 4	SAN R4 11	SAN R5 10	SYM R6 7	SYM R7 7	SYM R8 11	BEN R9 25	BEN R10 9	BEN R11 18	HID R12 22	HID R13 5	HID R14 7	TOW1 R15 10	TOW1 R16 16	TOW2 R17 20	TOW2 R18 10	TOW2 R19 8	SYD1 R20 12	SYD1 R21 17	SYD1 R22 10	SYD2 R23 18	SYD2 R24 10	SYD2 R25 15	SYD3 R26 13	SYD3 R27 6	SYD3 R28 19	SYD4 R29 12	SYD4 R30 C	BAT R31 16										10th	1725
2022				SMP R1 16	SMP R2 12	SYM R3 18	SYM R4 6	SYM R5 7	MEL R6 7	MEL R7 12	MEL R8 17	MEL R9 9	BAR R10 14	BAR R11 16	BAR R12 20	WIN R13 21	WIN R14 9	WIN R15 9	HID R16 5	HID R17 7	HID R18 9	TOW R19 25	TOW R20 10	BEN R21 16	BEN R22 9	BEN R23 15	SAN R24 8	SAN R25 12	SAN R26 5	PUK R27 11	PUK R28 22	PUK R29 12	BAT R30 15	SUR R31 9	SUR R32 6	ADE R33 6	ADE R34 11							9th	1909
2023		Chevrolet		NEW R1 6	NEW R2 10	MEL R3 21	MEL R4 9	MEL R5 Ret	MEL R6 19	BAR R7 18	BAR R8 18	BAR R9 19	SYM R10 12	SYM R11 13	SYM R12 8	HID R13 1	HID R14 18	HID R15 7	TOW R16	TOW R17	SMP R18	SMP R19	SMP R20	BEN R21	BEN R22	BEN R23	SAN QR	SAN R24	BAT R25	SUR R26	SUR R27	ADE R28	ADE R29											11th*	720*

Car No. 20 results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	Position	Pts
2020	Scott Pye	Holden	20	ADE R1 15	ADE R2 Ret	MEL R3 C	MEL R4 C	MEL R5 C	MEL R6 C	SMP1 R7 17	SMP1 R8 11	SMP1 R9 12	SMP2 R10 12	SMP2 R11 21	SMP2 R12 5	HID1 R13 3	HID1 R14 16	HID1 R15 22	HID2 R16 13	HID2 R17 3	HID2 R18 3	TOW1 R19 9	TOW1 R20 9	TOW1 R21 6	TOW2 R22 9	TOW2 R23 6	TOW2 R24 5	BEN1 R25 7	BEN1 R26 13	BEN1 R27 6	BEN2 R28 12	BEN2 R29 19	BEN2 R30 12	BAT R31 6										9th	1586
2021				BAT R1 19	BAT R2 8	SAN R3 12	SAN R4 8	SAN R5 22	SYM R6 8	SYM R7 9	SYM R8 14	BEN R9 13	BEN R10 10	BEN R11 9	HID R12 21	HID R13 13	HID R14 16	TOW R15 23	TOW R16 21	TOW2 R17 7	TOW2 R18 6	TOW2 R19 18	SYD1 R20 19	SYD1 R21 15	SYD1 R22 20	SYD2 R23 9	SYD2 R24 5	SYD2 R25 18	SYD3 R26 6	SYD3 R27 12	SYD3 R28 6	SYD4 R29 6	SYD4 R30 C	BAT R31 Ret										15th	1489
2022				SMP R1 Ret	SMP R2 15	SYM R3 7	SYM R4 7	SYM R5 13	MEL R6 11	MEL R7 4	MEL R8 25	MEL R9 11	BAR R10 19	BAR R11 Ret	BAR R12 DNS	WIN R13 6	WIN R14 27	WIN R15 14	HID R16 6	HID R17 Ret	HID R18 DNS	TOW R19 5	TOW R20 Ret	BEN R21 12	BEN R22 20	BEN R23 13	SAN R24 7	SAN R25 5	SAN R26 7	PUK R27 10	PUK R28 5	PUK R29 7	BAT R30 16	SUR R31 17	SUR R32 22	ADE R33 Ret	ADE R34 14							16th	1512

References

1. Herrero, Daniel (5 February 2024). "Slater appointed Team 18 technical director". Speedcafe. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
2. "IRWIN Racing & DEWALT Racing". Supercars. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
3. Charlie Schwerkolt sells his share of DJR Speedcafe 3 December 2010
4. Courtney: Thanks for the title, now see you later Sydney Morning Herald 12 December 2010
5. FPR, Schwerkolt join forces for 2013 Speedcafe 21 May 2012
6. Alex Davison secures fourth FPR seat Speedcafe 10 December 2012
7. Jack Perkins confirmed for full-time V8 rebirth Speedcafe 9 December 2013
8. "Lee Holdsworth switches to CSR in 2015". Speedcafe. 13 November 2014.
9. "Walkinshaw Racing confirm Schwerkolt and Holdsworth move". Holden Motorsport. 19 January 2015. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
10. Bartholomaeus, Stefan (21 December 2018). "Holdsworth secures Bottle-O Mustang drive". Supercars. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
11. Bartholomaeus, Stefan (23 November 2018). "More 'big changes' behind Winterbottom Team 18 deal". Supercars.
12. Howard, Tom (6 April 2019). "Winterbottom: Tassie pole 'proudest moment for a long time'". Speedcafe. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
13. "Supercars confirms entries for 2020 season". Speedcafe. 18 October 2019.