Todd Kelly talks down retirement

The veteran has enjoyed a much-improved season behind the wheel, following a tough few years as he’s balanced the workload of running the team, leading the engineering of what was an all-new Altima Supercar, and driving one of the team’s four cars.

With his upswing in current form, and having put some injury concerns behind him, Kelly is now downplaying the idea that he might walk away from the driver’s seat, using today’s crucial Nissan announcement to suggest that he will be one of the team’s four drivers next season.

“I’m just starting to come good. I’m really enjoying driving, and over the past three or four years I’ve had a few shoulder operations and a few injuries which I’m now completely back on top of. I’m feeling really good physically,” he said.

“I’m not even thinking about not driving the car. And the team is at a point now where it’s never been easier to run, with Scott Sinclair and Neil Price and all the guys we’ve got in at the workshop, it’s the place that we would have liked it to have been right from the start. It obviously takes time to do it.

“If I didn’t drive the car, I’ve almost put myself out of a job in terms of what I would do in the garage, or anything differently at work.”

Questions over line-up

Should the older of the two Kelly brothers opt to continue, that would effectively mean three of the four Nissan spots are already filled for 2017. Rick Kelly is hugely likely to stay on in the #15, while a two-year extension on Michael Caruso’s contract was part of Nissan’s announcement today.

The fourth car, currently occupied by Dale Wood, is still up for grabs. There have been some high-profile drivers linked to the seat, including James Courtney, who could well be on the move once Walkinshaw loses its factory Holden status at the end of the season.

Simona de Silvestro is an even more likely candidate. She will race for the team in a Wildcard entry at the Bathurst 1000, and has a three-year deal to race in Supercars – including funding – from 2017 onwards.

While refusing to be drawn too far on speculation regarding drivers, Todd Kelly did say that expanding beyond the current four-car model to include another driver is unlikely.

“Four cars is our model. We could expand, but I think that, the way that we’ve structured the place, it’s really at our limit,” he said.

“It would be a disadvantage for us to take on any more. Wildcards and the GT-R programme, they’re nice little things to have ticking along that don’t necessarily drain what we’re actually trying to achieve. That’s, from my point, kind of the limit.

“But there are a lot of options kicking around, the phone’s been ringing pretty hot with people wanting to jump in our cars. At the moment we’ve got a really good relationship with Dale, and we’re working with him.”