» Supercars: Bright replaces Brabham for enduro rounds

Matthew Brabham has been dropped as Team 18’s co-driver for this year’s Pirtek Enduro Cup rounds of the Supercars Championship, with his place taken by Jason Bright.

Brabham, the grandson of three-time Formula 1 World Champion Sir Jack Brabham, was originally set to be Lee Holdsworth’s co-driver for the long-distance Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600 events.

The youngster has, however, endured a troubled preparation for his maiden co-driver outings, with the nadir being a heavy crash during testing at Winton Raceway in May which cost the single-car team one of its three allocated in-season test days.

Team owner Charlie Schwerkolt has since made the call to replace Brabham with Jason Bright, who called time on his full-time racing career at the end of last season. Bright had, up until now, been a surprise omission from endurance racing grid given his recent experience.

“Our team has made a really tough call and has asked Matt Brabham to step aside for our 2018 enduro campaign,” Schwerkolt explained.

“Our category is so competitive and with limited test days it makes it incredibly difficult to get up to speed.

“Matty’s an amazing guy with incredible potential. The team and I are really thankful for his time and we look forward to seeing him again soon with Preston Hire Racing.

“I’d really like to welcome Jason Bright in joining the team and filling in at such short notice. He has a wealth of experience and [we] look forward to seeing what he can bring to the team.”

2018 Australian Supercars Championship – Pirtek Enduro Cup Entry List
#	Team / Entry	Driver	Co-Driver
1.	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Jamie Whincup	Paul Dumbrell
2.	Walkinshaw Andretti United	Scott Pye	Warren Luff
5.	Tickford Racing	Mark Winterbottom	Dean Canto
6.	Tickford Racing	Cameron Waters	James Moffat
7.	Nissan Motorsport	Andre Heimgartner	Aaren Russell
8.	Brad Jones Racing	Nick Percat	Macauley Jones
9.	Erebus Motorsport	David Reynolds	Luke Youlden
12.	DJR Team Penske	Fabian Coulthard	Tony D’Alberto
14.	Brad Jones Racing	Tim Slade	Ashley Walsh
15.	Nissan Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Garry Jacobson
17.	DJR Team Penske	Scott McLaughlin	Alexandre Prémat
18.	Charlie Schwerkolt Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Jason Bright
19.	TEKNO Autosports	Jack Le Brocq	Jonathon Webb
21.	Tim Blanchard Racing (BJR)	Tim Blanchard	Dale Wood
23.	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Dean Fiore
25.	Walkinshaw Andretti United	James Courtney	Jack Perkins
33.	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Garth Tander	Richard Muscat
34.	Garry Rogers Motorsport	James Golding	Chris Pither
35.	Matt Stone Racing	Todd Hazelwood	Bryce Fullwood
55.	Tickford Racing	Chaz Mostert	James Moffat
56.	Tickford Racing	Richie Stanaway	Steve Owen
78.	Nissan Motorsport	Simona de Silvestro	Alex Rullo
97.	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Shane van Gisbergen	Earl Bamber
99.	Erebus Motorsport	Anton de Pasquale	Will Brown
230.	23Red Racing	Will Davison	Alex Davison
888.	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Craig Lowndes	Steven Richards