Fan favourite team Erebus Motorsport celebrate a decade in the Repco Supercars Championship this year, starting off at the Thrifty Newcastle 500 this weekend.
Formed originally in 2011 to contest the Australian GT Championship with a brand new Mercedes-AMG SLS GT3 with Peter Hackett at the wheel, it took just two years for the squad to enter Supercars.
Led by Team Owner Betty Klimenko, Erebus completed a takeover of multiple championship and Bathurst winning squad Stone Brothers Racing in 2013 as it announced it was to enter three Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs to coincide with the new Car of The Future regulations.
It proved a tough initiation as AMG provided no support as Lee Holdsworth finished the 2013 season the best positioned Erebus driver in 20th.
Holdsworth took the team’s first win at Winton in 2014 as the Erebus downsized to two entries as Will Davison completed the line-up. An improvement on its debut season came courtesy of Davison finishing 14th.
The 2015 season proved to be the last for the Erebus and Mercedes-AMG program, with Davison adding another victory at Wanneroo in Western Australia. However, it proved to be another tough season as Davison was 15th and the second seat was mainly filled by debutant Ash Walsh until New Zealand.
The next year provided a wholesale change as Erebus Motorsport shifted its operations to Melbourne and switched to Holden ushering a new era under the watch of current CEO Barry Ryan. After being dumped by Prodrive Racing Australia, David Reynolds was recruited to lead the team and proved to be a spirited decision.
Although the first season for Reynolds at Erebus proved unspectacular, it displayed glimpses of the new partnership’s potential.
This potential was realised at the 2017 Bathurst 1000 when Reynolds and veteran Luke Youlden took victory in the Penrite Holden Commodore. This season also became the first to feature an Erebus driver inside the championship top 10.
A shift from pay drivers in the second seat ushered in a new successful era for the team in 2018 when highly credentialed rookie Anton De Pasquale joined the squad.
In a strong season where another Bathurst win went begging, Reynolds added three more wins to finish top five in the standings and De Pasquale was second of the rookies.
Reynolds and De Pasquale may not have added to the wins column in 2019, but nine podiums between the pair elevated Erebus as a frontrunning team above the likes of Walkinshaw Andretti United.
The high strain of the 2020 COVID-19 interrupted Supercars Championship proved a disappointing one for Reynolds after he went winless for a second season in a row to drop to 12th, while De Pasquale took his maiden victory and was now highly sought after by bigger teams.
At the end of the season, both left heralding a new generation for Erebus as young guns Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki combined in a partnership lasting into Gen3. Brown has taken one victory, while the duo has formed a strong bond in recent seasons.
Klimenko reflects fondly on the highs and lows experienced during the past decade.
“It’s been an incredible decade for Erebus and it’s gone so quickly,” Klimenko said.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, as does every team, but I am incredibly proud to look back at what we have achieved.
“I am so happy with where we are now and what we have accomplished in those ten years and I look forward to seeing what the next ten years will bring.”
A new book is set to be released to highlight the team’s first 10 years in Supercars alongside a line of merchandise.