Supercar news: Team 18 figures seen in Toyota garage at Bathurst 1000

Among those spotted checking out the stroke machine were 18 team bosses Charlie Schwerkolt and Adrian Burgess, as well as star driver David Reynolds.

Their appearance in the Toyota garage has done little to quell speculation that the Melbourne side will become the marque’s second team in 2026.

Toyota has announced Walkinshaw Andretti United as its homologation team and says it will evaluate options for a second team in mid-2025.

Schwerkolt has strong ties to Toyota through its forklift business and on Thursday publicly admitted its interest in the Supra project.

“I would look at it for sure,” Schwerkolt said when asked if he was interested in the Toyota deal.

“Obviously I have a relationship with Toyota and all that kind of stuff, but I think they’re going to go through a bidding process, we’ll see what happens and see where it goes.”

Burgess joined the 18 team at the start of 2024 after a five-year spell as Supercars engine chief.

While the Toyota Supercars news shocked the industry last month, the car brand and category had been in the works for 18 months.

Reynolds discussed Toyota’s imminent arrival in the category during an appearance on Supercars’ Drivers Only podcast the week after the announcement.

“I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’s a really good move and I can’t wait,” he said, before clarifying: “I don’t really know anything about it, I only found out about it last week.”

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Reynolds stated his interest in checking out the Supra at Bathurst, while Grove Racing’s Garth Tander cheekily asked if the car was going up the mountain with the No. 18 team truck.

Tander delved into the speculation by linking Toyota’s announcement to the recent Team 18 signing of Dick Johnson Racing driver Anton De Pasquale.

“I think it’s amazing that a fairly prominent driver left one of the Ford factory teams to go to what, at the time, appeared to be a small two-car operation and maybe he had some information that it was a big deal . in the wind,” he said.

“Maybe, ‘hey, if you come to our team, good things will happen in the future…'”

The 18 team currently has a pair of Chevrolet Camaros for Reynolds and Mark Winterbottom, who will be replaced by De Pasquale next season.