Craig Dontas today announced his intention to retire from full time racing in the Haltech V8 SuperUte Series with Bathurst being his final round.
Dontas first appeared 15 years ago racing with the Hi Tech Racing team before eventually becoming team owner and driver of Team Triton. In addition to his driving and team ownership commitments, Dontas also has his role with Supercars as Head of Commercial Sales and his young family to juggle his time with.
“I have had so much fun, represented some awesome commercial partners and lucky to be a part of the iconic years in Utes. I loved my time in the green Thirsty Camel Ute, switching to jumping a Stadium Truck and representing Mitsubishi the factory in SuperUtes, to right now with RYCO and our great partners. I have made life-long friends and memories, banged doors with some fierce competitors, but most importantly worked bloody hard at it all to do it the right way.”
Although he will be retiring, he has said he is still committed to RYCO Team Triton in 2023 and will be recruiting a new driver.
“I won’t be lost to Utes or driving either, I will jump in where I can for a steer in different categories. Importantly I am committed to operating RYCO Team Triton Racing in 2023, so we will recruit a new driver for the ute and look to expand this operation. A switch to team owner, mentor and importantly giving young drivers a shot will be my focus from a SuperUtes perspective. My work will be best done outside of the car.”
So this brings us to the second part of the title of this article, who will get the drive?
While we’re all for pushing young, upcoming talent and giving them a go, it would be hard to overlook Adam Marjoram after his V8 SuperUte re-debut at The Bend in July.
Marjoram managed to put in consistent drives throughout the weekend including a maiden win to take out the round with very minimal preperation.
Majoram has previously indicated that he’d love to return to racing but only if he was having fun and enjoying what he was driving, the huge grin on his face after the first laps and eventual win would give some hope towards this.
In addition, Marjoram has also worked with the Dontas outfit and knows the car so we see this as an obvious choice!
Who do you think could fill the seat? Leave a comment below!