Tyler Everingham was this morning announced as the co-driver for Scott Pye at this years Bathurst 1000, scoring his second ever Supercars drive over the mountain for The Great Race. Everingham’s 2020 campaign saw him take the lead role alongside Jayden Ojeda, with the wildcard Garry Rogers Motorsport entry finishing in 19th.
Now, two years later, Team 18 have emerged as the host of the 21-year-old from Dubbo for the Bathurst 1000, with a contending Commodore which finished as high as sixth in the 2020 edition.
The signing sees lineups all but confirmed for the contending outfits at this years event.
Shell V-Power have Tony D’Alberto to partner Anton De Pasquale, whilst Alex Davison will partner up with younger brother Will.
Kiwi Fabian Coulthard will return to Walkinshaw to race with Chaz Mostert, along with Warren Luff partnering Nick Percat.
BJR having Dean Fiore, Dale Wood and Jordan Boys partnering Bryce Fullwood, Andre Heimgartner and Macauley Jones respectively.
Supercar veteran David Reynolds has scored Super2 contender Matthew Payne for his co-driver, with teammate Lee Holdsworth contracting Matt Campbell.
Championship leading Red Bull have arguably the strongest co-driving lineup, with Jamie Whincup partnering youngster Broc Feeney and Garth Tander providing Shane Van Gisbergen with an all-kiwi lineup.
Tickford have secured drivers for all four cars, with James Courtney partnering Zane Goddard, Cam Waters with James Moffat, Thomas Randle with Zak Best and Jake Kostecki partnering with brother Kurt.
Will Brown will share his drive with Jack Perkins and Brodie Kostecki with David Russell.
The teammate of Pye, Mark Winterbottom, has secured the services of Michael Caruso.
This leaves just a few positions remaining to complete the full 2022 Bathurst 1000 lineup. This includes PremiAir Racing needing to find a partner for Kiwi Chris Pither, and the final BJR entry of Jack Smith having no co-driver signed.
Todays signing of Everingham, however, sees all the main contenders having secured the services of co-drivers, who will partner with full-time contenders for a chance at Great Race glory.
Pye is a veteran of the event, with 2022 being his 11th consecutive start for the 161-lap race. He has scored two podiums, with back-to-back second place finishes for Walkinshaw Andretti United in 2016 and 2017.
Pye’s form for Team 18 in 2022 has been hot-and-cold, with the highest placed result being a 4th placed finish in Melbourne. Several top 10 results have been compounded by four DNF’s, which sees him currently sitting 19th in the Supercars standings.
Everingham currently sits in fourth place in the Super2 standings, a season highlighted by race wins in Perth and Townsville.It is the best season to date in Super2 for the young Australian, who, in his fourth year, has a highest overall standing of 6th, in 2019 and 2021.
Pye is thrilled to be sharing his drive with Everingham, with comments made in a release by Team 18 showing this.
“It’s really exciting to have Tyler locked in, I’m looking forward to getting to the mountain and having Tyler locked away now means we can start to really focus and push forward with our preparation into that event,” Pye said in the release.
“Communication is key within a race team and Charlie [Schwerkolt] is a big advocate for that. We had a lot of open and ongoing discussions about who our co-driver was going to be. Once Tyler came up we kept a very close eye on him and he’s been doing a fantastic job in Super2 so it was really a no-brainer to get him locked away and it was a decision I was really happy with,” he continued.
“Bathurst is coming up fast, we have Sandown in the very short term with a co-drivers session there, so hopefully that practice goes well for him and gets a good feel of the car, but Bathurst is a race that you think about all year, straight-line speed is a huge one there, so our preparation has certainly begun and my thought process around has been ongoing for quite some time, so I’m excited to get to the mountain and it can’t come soon enough.”
The signing of Everingham in the co-driver role is one of the few remaining which needed to be completed, with Kiwi Earl Bamber originally being approached for the responsibility. A busy touring schedule meant this move failed to eventuate, with Everingham the benefactor.
“It’s really exciting to team up with Scott Pye and Team 18 for the Bathurst 1000 this year,” Everingham said.
“I’m extremely determined to make the most of this opportunity, it’s one of the best seats on the grid at the moment for a co-drive so it was pretty special to get the call up from Charlie to join the team for Bathurst.
“The wildcard in 2020 was extremely valuable, that was my first time in the 1000 and to be the main driver in that entry was a great experience. I had Richard Hollway as our engineer that year, so it’s cool to team up with him again and learn from him and Scott over the next couple of months as we prepare for the race.
“Scott has proven to be one of the top drivers at the mountain over the years, so I’ll be working hard to soak up as much as I can from him to ensure we put ourselves in a good position to be a contender at the end of the race,” he concluded.
Whilst 2022 has left much to be desired for Pye, a Super2 veteran as his co-driver should see him emerge as a serious contender for the race. The event, over the second weekend in October, will see Pye aiming to improve on those 2nd place finishes and score his first The Great Race victory of his career.
