Recently retired Repco Supercars Championship driver Tim Slade will link up with a former teammate for the 2025 endurance races.
Slade announced his retirement from full-time career during the latter part of the season at PremiAir Racing, but his next move has revealed.
Slade will reunite with Nick Percat at Matt Stone Racing following the pair being teammates at Brad Jones Racing for three seasons although the duo never paired during the enduros.
The South Australian born duo share a near-three decade friendship and will be a combination to keep an eye on during the endurance events starting at The Bend before the big one at Bathurst.
Percat and Matt Stone Racing exceeded many expectations by winning two races on the way to eighth in the standings.
Slade brings more a 451 Supercars races worth of experience including two wins, 17 pole positions, a best of fifth in the championship.
After losing his seat at Brad Jones Racing in 2020, Slade was picked up to join Repco Supercars Championship winner Scott McLaughlin at DJR Team Penske to score his best Bathurst result of fifth.
“I’m looking forward to teaming up with Nick and the team at MSR for The Bend and Bathurst later this year,” said Slade.
“The team has achieved some great results since the inception of Gen3 and Nick obviously had a strong first year with the team, collecting a couple of wins.
“There’s lots of familiar faces having worked with not only Nick previously but also Matt, Jimmy and some of the key staff from SBR back in the day.
“Another familiar face is James Rosenberg who has had some involvement with the team for a while now, so racing aside, it’s a really nice fit.”
Team owner Matt Stone is keen to build on his operation’s results in 2024 and recruiting Slade is a step in towards this.
“Signing Tim as a co-driver alongside Nick puts MSR in the best position we have ever been as a team to win the Bathurst 1000,” Stone explained.
“It’s great to be reunited with him for the first time since the Stone Brothers Racing days. Tim has been one of the most consistent and respected drivers in the Supercars paddock for almost two decades and we are thrilled to have him onboard. We’re looking forward to working with him across all of our testing and race programs and getting him settled into our outfit.”
Percat will get his season underway at Sydney Motorsport Park on February 21-23.