Saturday Top 10s: Big Supercars Moves

This week saw the confirmation of Chaz Mostert to Walkinshaw, Todd Hazlewood to Brad Jones Racing and Jack Le Brocq to Tickford. With this in mind, I'm going to take a look at the biggest move in previous years and rate it.

10 (years ago): Fabian Coulthard: Paul Crickshank --> Walkinshaw

Fabian flew backwards in his first season, going from 16th with PCR to 23rd with Walkinshaw. However, this season was much more memorable than 23rd suggested, because of his massive roll at Bathurst. However, he rebounded with 12th the next year and then moved to Brad Jones.

9 (years ago): James Courtney: DJR --> HRT

Well, James spent nine wears with HRT/Walkinshaw and never won the championship again, so naturally this could be seen as a backwards move. However, DJR fell even further to become a backmarker within the next five years and was only rescued by Penske, so it was an alright move. Courtney has since visited the podium at Bathurst twice, won at Gold Coast, and been injured in two scary accidents in a just-finished nine emotional years.

8 (years ago): Lee Holdsworth: GRM --> Stone Brothers

This move didn't work out for reasons out of Lee's control. SBR sold to Erebus in 2013, who ran Mercedes for three years, which were completely unsuccessful. Lee struggled between 2013 and last year until he secured a move to Tickford Racing and has got back to the Top 10.

7 (years ago): Shane van Gisbergen: Stone Brothers --> Tekno

This move did work out fairly well. SVG continued to fight for wins, just in a Holden rather than a Ford, whereas SBR evolved into Erebus and didn't recover until Erebus moved from Mercedes to Holden.

6 (years ago): Will Davison: FPR --> Erebus

This move didn't work, due to the Mercedes being rubbish. Davison has since been the small team journeyman before 23Red merged into the Tickford stable. Erebus only improved after Davison broke his contract to join Tekno, and that move was more successful, yielding a Bathurst win.

5 (years ago): Marcos Ambrose: unattached --> DJR

Well.

No.

He lasted one race.

4 (years ago): SVG: Tekno --> Red Bull AND David Reynolds: Prodrive --> Erebus

Both of these two moves have worked handsomely for those involved. SVG won the championship in his first year with RBR and Reynolds turned Erebus from a midfield shambles to a top team fighting for wins.

3 (Years ago): Scott McLaughlin: GRM --> DJR

Shout to Garth Tander moving from Walkinshaw to GRM, and to Simona entering the sport, but Scotty Mac was undoubtedly the biggest move of 2017. He's justified the faith put into him by Ryan Story, Dick Johnson and Roger Penske, winning two driver's championship and two team's championships with DJR, and has conducted himself admirably despite several scandals in the recent past.

2 (years ago): Will Davison: Tekno --> 23Red

Well, only one driver moved between main game teams in this year so it was a shoe-in for Will Davison's second appearance on the list. Time will tell if Anton de Pasquale at Erebus will be more important, but Davison certainly left Tekno at the right time, with 23Red going from a lower mid table team at the beginning with Will to a contender with Tickford this year. Meanwhile, Tekno have crashed to the back of the pack.

1 (year ago): Mark Winterbottom and Lee Holdsworth: Swap deal between Team18 and Tickford

This deal worked well for both parties. Lee has enjoyed having teammates after four years at a single car team, and has enjoyed his performances, while Frosty is also enjoying his time at Team18 and seems to be looking forward to the team's expansion.