When 2005 promised much, there was no delivery. Besnard and teammate Craig Baird weren’t overly competitive. Whilst Gore brought colour and money to the sport of V8 Supercars, the pair couldn’t take a trick. This lack of results was probably due to the use of outdated OO Motorsport cars, which weren’t even competitive when they were introduced in 2003.
So what has led to the team’s remarkable change of fortune? The answer lies in the team’s off-season. Currently, Gore has expanded his operations to sponsoring Marcos Ambrose’s NASCAR Craftsman truck entry, but back down under, he pulled off two major coups which have benefited the team beyond many pundits’ post-2005 expectations for the Labrador outfit.
With Mark Larkham losing his protégé Mark Winterbottom to Ford Performance Racing near the end of last season, and with costs spiralling out of control for the small Larkham Motorsport outfit, Craig Gore offered the stalwart team owner an opportunity to start afresh with better funding and a new driver.
And so it was, Larkham Motorsport and WPS Racing merged to form an impressive two car super team. Larkham brought personnel, former Bathurst winner Jason Bargwanna and most importantly expertise to Gore, and Gore provided hotshot ex-
Williams F1 tester Max Wilson and lots of dollars for him to utilise.
Even Larkham’s loyal major sponsor Orrcon joined the new look WPS Racing – albeit in a smaller capacity, but still present. Larkham became the principal of the squad and set about improving the entire squad to become championship challengers, with foundation Team Manager Keith Evers providing considerable assistance.
Now, at the halfway point of the series, Evers has seen how WPS Racing has moved away from its ‘pretender’ status.
“Since January this year there isn’t one aspect of our team that hasn’t been reviewed and improved. This has allowed us to be more competitive on the race track,” he said.
