Kiwi supercars star Fabian Coulthard has turned down an endurance drive with his former outfit and signed a full-time gig with Team SYDNEY.
The 38-year-old was dumped from a permanent drive with Dick Johnson Racing hours after fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin announced his switch to IndyCars.
McLaughlin will return to the No.17 Mustang for the Bathurst 1000 alongside his replacement Will Davison, but Coulthard has taken his talents elsewhere for the 2021 campaign.
One of the category's most experienced heads, Coulthard joins the only Sydney-based team on the grid - a real coup for the team run by former Bathurst winner Jono Webb.
Coulthard is a proven winner holding 13 career victories in 443 race starts while he also has 16 Bathurst 1000s to his name, including a fourth-place finish this year.
While the Kiwi has never won the championship, he led for several rounds in 2017, and would have been a contender had he not had a horrific accident at Pukekohe in the penultimate round.
He finished third in the title hunt that year behind teammate McLaughlin and series champion Jamie Whincup.
Coulthard and McLaughlin were central in the dominance of the Roger Penske backed DJR team throughout the last four seasons where the Ford outfit won three drivers titles and three teams titles.
"Joining Local Legends Team SYDNEY is an exciting opportunity for myself, I look forward to representing Local Legends, the city of Sydney and playing my part in the development of their Supercar program,” Coulthard told Supercars.com.au.
"I have a long-standing relationship with the Webb’s, Jonathon and I have competed against one another since 2003 in various campaigns.
"Jonathon, Geoffrey [Slater] and I have a clear direction for the growth of the team and we are committed for the long haul."
In 2021, Coulthard will drive the Local Legends No.19 entry, which will be boosted by racing benefactor Tony Quinn, who owns Local Legends beef jerky.
Quinn, a New Zealand-based, UK ex-pat, petrolhead, was the man who wrote the checks for Webb's Team Tekno, which housed Shane van Gisbergen from 2013-15.
"Fabian and I have worked together in the past winning the inaugural Highlands 101 endurance race, we hope to carry this success with the Local Legends Supercar," Quinn said.
"We’ve got the tools to put on a good show, just need Fab to update his hairstyle," he joked.
