Victorian Supercars squad Team 18 have locked in their engineering lineup for the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship, bolstered by key off-season recruitments lead by new Team Principal Adrian Burgess.

The team is proud to announce the signing of respected engineer Dr Geoff Slater as Technical Director who has joined the team immediately ahead of pre-season testing on Wednesday February 7.

Slater arrives with a wealth of experience and success in the sport in Supercars and abroad. Within Supercars, Slater has held senior engineering roles with the likes of Britek Motorsport, Dick Johnson Racing, Tekno Autosports, Walkinshaw Andretti United and most recently PremiAir Racing. Slater’s accomplishments include engineering victory in the 2016 Bathurst 1000 as well as being part of Tekno’s Bathurst 12 Hour winning campaign.

A two-year stint outside of Supercars in 2019 and 2020 included victory in the 2020 Daytona 24 Hour with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM class, and victory in the Michelin Endurance Cup that year.

“I’m honoured to join Team 18 and contribute to the development of their engineering group,” said Slater.

“We have two drivers who are extremely strong with their feedback and experience in developing cars, alongside a talented engineering group with the likes of Richard Hollway and a skilled group around him, I’m excited to get to work and push this team to greater heights.”

The team has also welcomed the arrival of Som Sharma who joins as Race Engineer on Mark Winterbottom’s DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

Sharma has held technical positions within the Supercars Championship since 2014, including the role of Regulations and Systems Engineer for the Gen3 project.

A brief stint in Europe during 2020 and 2023 saw Sharma work for Leomax Engineering GmbH, representing the FIA and DMSB in technical and scrutinising capacities with the full DTM Championship and selected Formula 2 and Formula 3 World Championship events.

The appointment marks Sharma’s first stint as a race engineer in the Supercars pit lane.

New Team 18 recruit David Reynolds will have decorated Supercars engineer Richard Hollway as his Race Engineer on the TRADIE Beer Racing Camaro.

“Joining Team 18 as the new Team Principal is an exciting challenge, and I’m confident in the capabilities of our newly formed engineering group,” said Burgess.

“It’s a great coup to recruit Geoff Slater as Technical Director, and alongside our dedicated team of engineers and mechanics we’re ready to hit the ground running and compete at the highest level.”

Winterbottom will continue to drive ‘T18-002’, the chassis he used in the first year of Gen3 in 2023, while Reynolds’ will the ‘T18-001’ as driven by Scott Pye in 2023.

The team will reveal the liveries of David Reynolds’ #20 TRADIE Beer Racing Camaro and Mark Winterbottom’s #18 DEWALT Racing Camaro on February 6 and 7 respectively, before the team hits the track for pre-season testing at Winton on Wednesday.

“I’m thrilled to reveal our revamped engineering lineup for the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship solidified with these major recruitments,” said Team Owner, Charlie Schwerkolt.

“The addition of Geoff Slater as Technical Director and the expertise of Adrian Burgess as our new Team Principal alongside our impressive group of engineers and mechanics puts us in a strong position to move forwards up the grid this year.

“With our skilled crew and the engineering firepower we’ve got, we’re pumped to get to work and put together a package for Frosty [Winterbottom] and Dave [Reynolds] to contend this year.”

The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship kicks off at the Thrifty Bathurst 500 on 23-25 February.

2024 Team 18 Engineering Group

Team Principal – Adrian Burgess

Technical Director – Geoff Slater

Race Engineer #18 – Som Sharma

Race Engineer #20 – Richard Hollway