Reports of new touring car outfit Team Sydney’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, according to Supercars boss Sean Seamer.
Speculation was rife that Team Sydney, spearheaded by former Supercars series champion James Courtney, may be a no show at Tuesday’s 2020 season launch after a reported deal with businessman Rod Salmon collapsed.
It appeared to be another blow for Team Sydney who have been plagued by rumours about their future since the Jonathon Webb-led venture announced it would relocate from the Gold Coast to Sydney and expand to a two-car outfit in 2020 last October.
But Seamer confirmed Team Sydney would take pride of place at Tuesday’s launch in Sydney where Webb’s outfit are expected to confirm New Zealand’s Chris Pither as their second driver.
“They’ve been working really hard behind the scenes on sponsors, drivers and contracts etc and are pretty happy to be rolling out a car at our launch on Tuesday,” he told reporters.
“I think that those guys have got all of the key ingredients to put together something pretty special.
“They’ve got a good driver line-up, good sponsors. Jono’s got a good track record – they’ve got everything there.”
Seamer said he had never been concerned that Team Sydney would fall over despite rumblings following the failed Salmon deal that reportedly would have landed highly rated driver Will Brown in the second seat for 2020.
“Obviously Jono was going to do it with a partner, then decided not to,” he said.
“He’s been pushing on the whole time in the background. I’m not sure where the information came to the contrary.
“There’s been no change to it. Jono has been in Sydney meeting with sponsors the whole time, it hasn’t deviated.”
Still Seamer warned Team Sydney faced a steep learning curve in 2020.
“I think we’ve all got to be realistic that they’re putting a lot of new people together, going to two cars,” he said.
“They’ve got a lot of work to do.
“(But) it’s not for me to set expectations around their performances, that’s what the team boss does.”