The Supercars grid is set. This is how it looks for 2021 after some big off-season moves

Defending champion Scott McLaughlin is gone, so is Team Penske and official Holden involvement. And there’s been some big off-season moves.

Dick Johnson Racing Supercars. ** EMBARGO FOR FRIDAYS PAPERS 6/11 ** Shell V-Power Racing Team announce 2021 driver line up - Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

The Supercars grid will look a little different this year.

Defending and three-time series champion Scott McLaughlin is gone, as is the involvement of American motorsport giant Team Penske.

The official Holden Racing Team is no more and a former champion and two-time Bathurst winner has also bid goodbye to full-time racing.

There has been plenty of movement in the Supercars off-season so far.

The Supercars grid is now set. This is how it looks for 2021.

DICK JOHNSON RACING

Will Davison

Anton De Pasquale

There has been a name change and a double-driver change for the champions for 2021.

Former Erebus Motorsport young gun Anton De Pasquale and Supercars journeyman and two-time Bathurst winner Will Davison will race for the Ford squad this year.

After winning three consecutive Supercars championships, Scott McLaughlin has left the series to race full-time in IndyCar in the United States with Team Penske.

McLaughlin’s teammate of the past four years, Fabian Coulthard has also left the team.

The squad has reverted to the name Dick Johnson Racing after Team Penske announced in October it was quitting Supercars after six years in the V8 championship.

Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison will drive for Dick Johnson Racing in 2021. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

TRIPLE EIGHT/ RED BULL AMPOL RACING TEAM

Jamie Whincup

Shane van Gisbergen

Retains the same driver line-up for a fifth year with seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup and Bathurst champion Shane van Gisbergen.

After four years as the factory-backed Holden Racing Team, the squad bid farewell to the official support of Holden with an emotional victory for van Gisberben and Garth Tander at Mount Panorama last year.

Ampol has replaced Holden as the team’s co-naming rights sponsor, but the team will still campaign in a ZB Commodore this year before the new Gen 3 regulations come into effect from 2022.

Triple Eight will sit behind rivals DJR in the pit lane order after finishing second in the team’s championship.

Triple Eight will retain the same driver line-up in 2021 with Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup. Picture: Tim Hunter.

TICKFORD RACING

Cameron Waters

James Courtney

Jack Le Brocq

Tickford Racing has downsized to three cars for 2021 after announcing the departure of Lee Holdsworth after two years with the team in early January.

Cameron Waters, who was second in the drivers’ championship to McLaughlin last year, James Courtney and Jack Le Brocq continue with the Ford squad this year.

Waters is coming off his best season in the series, in which he also finished second in the Bathurst 1000 alongside Will Davison.

Cameron Waters finished second in the Supercars drivers’ championship behind Scott McLaughlin last year. (Photo by Handout/Mark Horsburgh/Edge Photographics via Getty Images)

EREBUS MOTORSPORT

Will Brown

Brodie Kostecki

It’s a double-driver change for Erebus this year after the departure of De Pasquale to DJR and shock exit of 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner David Reynolds.

Will Brown, 22, and Brodie Kostecki, 23, will take the seats of De Pasquale and Reynolds in 2021, having partnered the departing duo as co-drivers at the Bathurst 1000 last year.

Reynolds and Erebus confirmed in December he was leaving the squad just one year into a bumper 10-year deal, amid reports of tensions within the team.

TEAM 18

Mark Winterbottom

Scott Pye

Team 18 will continue with the same driver line-up for the second year in a row.

Winterbottom and Pye both arrived at the squad as it expanded to a two-car operation in 2020.

The pair both finished just inside the top-10 in the drivers’ championship – Winterbottom 10th and Pye ninth.

WALKINSHAW ANDRETTI UNITED

Chaz Mostert

Bryce Fullwood

Walkinshaw Andretti United retains the same driver line-up in 2021 with Chaz Mostert and Bryce Fullwood.

Fullwood, 22, was awarded a contract extension for 2021 after finishing his rookie year in Supercars with one podium and four top-10 finishes.

Mostert finished an equal-career high fifth in the drivers’ championship in his first year with WAU after crossing from Tickford Racing.

Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Chaz Mostert. Picture: Shae Beplate.

BRAD JONES RACING

Nick Percat

Todd Hazelwood

Macauley Jones

Jack Smith

The Albury-based operation also heads into the 2021 Supercars championship with an unchanged driver line-up.

Percat is back for his fifth year with the team after a career-best finish in the championship last year when he finished seventh.

Hazelwood returns for a second year with BJR, Jones is back for his third full-time season, while 21-year-old Smith re-signed after completing his rookie season last year.

KELLY GROVE RACING

David Reynolds

Andre Heimgartner

A new team name and a new driver in the line-up for 2021.

David Reynolds was confirmed as the rebranded team’s big off-season recruit last week after five years with Erebus Motorsport.

The 2017 Bathurst winner steps into the vacated Ford Mustang seat of Rick Kelly, who announced he was stepping away from full-time driving at the end of last season.

Kelly, the 2006 series champion and two-time Bathurst 1000 winner, has been a fixture in the team since 2009.

Reynolds joins Andre Heimgartner in the driver line-up. Heimgartner, coming into his third year with the team, achieved his best result in the championship last year when he finished 14th in the standings.

Reynolds will be hoping to bounce back from a challenging 2020 when he finished outside the top-10 (12th) in the standings for the first time since 2016.

David Reynolds has signed with Kelly Grove Racing after leaving Erebus Motorsport after just one year of a 10-year deal. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Rick Kelly has stepped away from full-time Supercars driving. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

TEAM SYDNEY

Fabian Coulthard

Garry Jacobson

Fabian Coulthard heads the driver line-up for Team Sydney after five years at DJR Team Penske, which has an all new line-up for 2021.

Coulthard achieved his best result in the championship with the Ford team in 2016 when he finished third, but finished sixth last year as his teammate Scott McLaughlin went on to win his third straight drivers’ crown.

Garry Jacobson was this week confirmed as the second driver at Team Sydney, the last driver to be locked in on the Supercars grid.

Alex Davison and Chris Pither drove for Team Sydney last year.

MATT STONE RACING

Jake Kostecki

Zane Goddard

After sharing a car as rookies last year, Jake Kostecki and Zane Goddard both return with full-time drives for Matt Stone Racing in 2021.

Garry Jacobson departed the MSR line-up after one season with the team.

BLANCHARD RACING

Tim Slade

After a season out of full-time Supercars racing, Tim Slade returns to the main game with Tim Blanchard’s new solo operation.

Slade co-drove with departing Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin in the Bathurst 1000 last year after spending the four previous years with Brad Jones Racing.