IS THIS THE END FOR THE LONGEST TRUCK PARTNERSHIP IN SUPERCARS?
All signs suggest a switch from Mack Trucks to a Daimler brand for Grove Racing this year
Kelly Grove Racing’s Mack Superliner B-Double transporter last year
The Kelly Racing connection with Mack Trucks Australia dates back to 2010, when the team switched from Western Star trucks to a Mack Trident and Volvo FH combination.
The partnership with the Volvo-owned brand has continued ever since, with new Mack Super-Liner trucks joining the team in 2013 and 2015.
The team’s Mack Trident in 2011
Photo: Mike Cornwall
One of the team’s two Mack Superliners in 2019
The Braeside outfit scaled back from four to two cars at the start of 2020, but one of its Mack Super-Liner trucks remained in Supercars service to pull the team’s B-Double trailer set for two more seasons.
However, in the first full year of Grove Group’s ownership, the Mack Trucks logo was not on the team’s 2022 Ford Mustang entries on its Australia Day launch earlier this week.
Instead, the White Horse Truck Centre logo appears just below both doors of the Penrite-backed entries of David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth.
During the team launch at Luna Park, with Whitehorse Truck Centre branding below the door
Photo: Grove Racing
Whitehorse Truck Centre is a Melbourne-based Daimler Trucks dealer that sells Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Fuso trucks. That means the Grove team is almost certain to represent a Daimler brand at the sharp end of its race transporter this year.
We haven’t got word on which model will pull the Grove Racing Ford Mustangs around Australia this year, but it’s most likely to be either a Freightliner Cascadia or a Mercedes-Benz Actros, which are the flagship heavy duty trucks of the current Daimler Trucks Australia line-up. The Fuso Shogun 510 also comes under the Daimler banner and is capable of pulling a B-Double, but it’s an outside chance at best.
The odds-on favourite is a Freightliner Cascadia, given the glimpses of a white Cascadia prime mover towing a black trailer in the team’s 2022 launch video at Luna Park in Melbourne.
Grove Group has been associated with Whitehorse Truck Centre before. The company took delivery of two Mercedes-Benz Actros 2658 prime movers in October 2020, which it uses for both racing and business.
Grove Group’s two Mercedes-Benz Actros 2658 trucks
Photo: Whitehorse Truck Centre
We’ll keep an ear to the ground and confirm the team’s 2022 prime mover news as soon as it comes to hand.
We’re also keeping an eye out for any other Supercars teams using a Mack truck this year, particularly as the brand seeks to establish its new Anthem model in the Australian market.
Make sure you’re following our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, as well as our website, to keep across all the truck developments heading into the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship season.