Going Wild

Supercars’ wildcard initiative has been widely praised for good reason. In allowing wildcard entries into select sprint rounds and making the Super2 event at Mount Panorama non-championship in order to entice teams to enter the Bathurst 1000, the series is not only harking back to the glory days of wildcards but also giving youngsters such as James Golding, Jack Le Brocq, Shae Davies, Todd Hazelwood and Macauley Jones a better transition into the main game.

- John Bannon

With Supercars one of the most competitive touring-car series in the world and with a stellar line-up of drivers, cracking the main game can be extremely tough. So this year’s wildcard initiative to allow non main-game drivers to compete at nominated rounds looks like a win-win for the series, the fans and the drivers and teams taking part. Five young drivers took up the opportunity to contest selected rounds of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship in 2017 in the hope they can do enough to press their claims for full-time drives in 2018.similar way to how he took Nick Percat under his wing at the Holden Racing Team, which led to the pair winning the Bathurst 1000 in 2011.

“Garth’s been fantastic helping on and off the track, even leading up to the events and even at the events,” says Golding.

“He hasn’t gone quiet as soon as I’ve become the competitor. I’m really happy being able to have Garth help me and give me a bit of direction with my driving and how to attack each race.”

James Golding

AGE: 21 years old 

LIVES: Warragul, Victoria 

TEAM: Garry Rogers Motorsport 

CAR: Holden VF Commodore

Golding was the only one of the five wildcard drivers without a regular Super2 drive this year but the opportunity for the speedy youngster to get some extra miles ahead of the enduros, where he’ll share the car with the experienced Garth Tander, was too good to pass up.

“Every lap in these cars you learn something, so it will definitely give me a lot more confidence heading into the enduros that I can do a good job for Garth,” he says.

Tander has taken on a mentoring role to Golding in a Golding is a big fan of the wildcard initiative for the many opportunities it creates.