Team(s): LD Motorsport
Manufacturer: Holden
Team Principal: Lucas Dumbrell
Chassis: Holden Commodore VF
Debut: 2010
Drivers’ Championships: –
Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport was established in 2010 when former racer Lucas Dumbrell purchased a Racing Entitlements Contract from the now-defunct Sprint Gas Racing and arranged an alliance with Walkinshaw Racing, who provided a car, engines and technical support for the team’s first two seasons. In buying the Racing Entitlements Contract, Dumbrell became the youngest team owner in V8 Supercars.
After running an ex-Triple Eight Commodore in 2012 (acquired from Paul Morris Motorsports), the team expanded to two Triple Eight-built Commodore VF entries for 2013 following the purchase of Paul Morris’ Racing Entitlement Contract.
The Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport team then returned to a single car operation following a major restructure in the off-season in 2014 with 2005 V8 Supercar champion and two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Russell Ingall behind the wheel of the Repair Management Australia-backed #23 Commodore – his 19th and last full-time season in the main game.
Unfortunately, the team only rarely got up the sharp end of the field through odd tyre strategies and didn’t find much success in 2014 and Ingall retired at the end of the season to take up a TV role with no wins.
Having regained control of its second REC and returned to a two-car outfit, Nick Percat and Tim Blanchard joined the team for its 2015 campaign. Percat was then again retained for 2016, this time joined by Andre Heimgartner in the team’s second entry. Success came quickly through pure luck when in the rain shortened Clipsal 500 Sunday race, Percat was the first car on the road to get in the minimum drop of fuel, a technicality that caught many other teams off guard. This gave Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport its first win though the rest of the season didn’t net any more impressive results, other than Percat and co-driver Cameron McConville grabbing the last spot on the podium at Bathurst.
Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport is set to be a part of history in 2017 giving its former Dunlop Series driver and 16-year old Western Australian Alex Rullo a drive in the main game. This makes Rullo the youngest driver in the history of Supercars. Matt Chahda was also announced as the team’s second driver at the season launch but his superlicence was blocked by CAMS, leaving the team in limbo. Taz Douglas stepped for the first round in Adelaide, but is not expected to retain the seat.