The landscape in the Supercars Championship constantly changes—new team owners emerge, drivers and engineers move up and down the pit lane, and team owners constantly focus on commercial partnerships.

In recent years, there has been an influx of successful business entities entering the sport.

The Grove family purchased the Kelly Racing Team, and more recently, Peter Xiberras, of PremiAir Hire fame, took over the fledgling Team Sydney.

But teams starting from scratch are few and far between. The Blanchard Racing Team is the recent exception, but we have to go back a number of years to see another small team, such as Erebus, take the plunge into the Supercars ‘Main Game.’

Matt Stone Racing is one of the few that have developed from scratch. It is quite surprising to delve into the history books and find that MSR has been involved in the Supercars category since 2011.

Some thirteen years later, and seven years in the Repco Supercars Championship, Team Principal Matt Stone is witnessing his small band of racers take on the top end of town and doing it with consistent performances.

The Race Torque’s Dale Rodgers caught up with Matt Stone at the recent Sydney Super Night meeting to chart the team’s history.

“I had grown up in the Supercars pit lane, and even during high school, I was doing work at Stone Brothers. I left SBR to do my apprenticeship and dabbled a little bit with Andy McElrea in Carrera Cup before coming back to work full time at Stone Brothers when they expanded to three cars with Shane Van Gisbergen,” Stone recalled.

“After working as number one (mechanic) on one of the cars, I was looking for what was the next step. Jimmy, Ross and Bev helped me branch out and do my own thing,” he added

“They were able to lease me a car and help me get set up.”

Stone saw this opportunity as a huge learning curve after being around the main game team for so long. It also allowed him to branch into a number of other categories, including Asian GT, Touring Car Masters, TCR and Utes, while building the team and the experience to run in the Dunlop Series.

“It was a really good experience. There was less stress and a different kind of racing at that level. A smaller team and some weekend warriors made it really enjoyable,” Stone said.

The young team owner’s record in this era was quite outstanding. V8 Utes Championships, a win in the inaugural TCR round, and multiple successes in the Asian GT Championship in the AM Class and success in the Touring Car Masters, all while building the Dunlop Series (Super2) program.

The ultimate prize came in 2017 when Todd Hazelwood delivered MSR the Super2 Championship.

This was arguably the catalyst for Stone to take the plunge, secure a licence, and move to the main game, the Supercars Championship, in a single-car entry.

Hazelwood would continue his long association with the team, but his and the team’s rookie season was anything but smooth. 

The team acquired an ex-DJR Team Penske Ford Falcon FG X.

With the squad having committed to go back to GM in 2019, the team took the unusual decision to park the Falcon and go back to its older model Holden Commodore so it could start preparing for the ZB the following season.

“After a few years in the support categories, I guess I got the itch and looked at how we could turn a Super2 Championship into the next step of getting into the main game,” Stone said.

“The best lessons are hard learned. It was a bit of a nostalgic thing to go back to the Ford, but it didn’t take long to realise we weren’t loving the path we were on.”

“We wanted to get a head start on the hardware we would be running on the ZB in 2019, but we couldn’t get our hands on one until the end of that season,” Stone explained.

“So, we found ourselves in a bit of limbo.  To continue going down the development road with the Ford felt like a waste of time.”

“Stepping back to the VF was a handicap, but as we were able to run the set-up package we would have the following year, we felt that was the best choice,” Stone recalled.

MSR was building slowly in the Championship and once again made a stride in 2020, moving to a two-car model after negotiating the purchase of RECs from Garry Rogers Motorsport and Kelly Racing.

Using the Rogers #34, MSR again showed they were prepared to do things differently by splitting the driving duties in the ZB Commodore between Jake Kostecki and Zane Goddard – each would drive a number of rounds and then team up for the Enduros.

Garry Jacobson piloted the #35 entry, which also demonstrated Stone’s commitment to young drivers moving up from Super2.

“We always try to think outside the box. We are a team that came from running two Super2 drivers, and we were pretty good at generating a Super2 budget, but it is a lot bigger scale in the main game,” Stone said.

“So, we basically took two Super2 budgets and two Super2 drivers and put them together to give us the budget needed. It was a good concept bringing young guys through, running two cars and learning the Supercars Championship.”

In 2022 and 2023, a more traditional approach was the direction, with Todd Hazelwood returning, joined by Jack Le Brocq.

This also signalled a change for MSR as it was the first time they had fielded two experienced drivers in the ZB Commodores.

However, 2022 was a bit of a caretaker year, in Stone’s words, with the delay in launching the Gen3 car. MSR had the oldest cars in the field and clearly set its sights on the launch of the new car.

“2022 was going to be a year when we really wanted to try and build ourselves, and we had planned on Gen3 being there in twenty-two. With the delay, it was impossible to try and replace our cars for one season,” Stone said.

“That year was also marred by some mechanical issues, which may have been due to coming out the back of COVID.

“We also decided to get back into Super2, and as a team, we stretched ourselves too far.

“It was good for us to learn again as we decided to get rid of the distractions and put our efforts back into Gen3 planning,” he admitted.

The team was built again in 2023, but it has been the current season that MSR has really arrived as a race winner and podium regular, and there is the expectation that top tens will become the business-as-usual approach.

While the team has continued to gain experience at the top level, it is now the drivers and commercial side of the business that has arguably been the biggest catalyst.

A key ingredient has been Nick Percat.

At the start of 2014, Percat presented a very candid and honest assessment of where he was at.

“My future wife Bailey and the family who backed me so hard because, honestly, I wanted to quit. I hated every second of the last 18 months,” Percat told the media.

Stone’s rationale and the reason he wanted Percat turned that situation for Nick 180 degrees.

“It was an interesting scenario,” Stone explained.

“We decided in 2023 that we were going to go with a rookie and a pro, being Jack Le Brocq and Cam Hill.

“We were planning on rolling over that line-up.

“With the championship-winning team (Erebus) suddenly having a vacancy and Jack being the only driver in the Top 10 out of contract, we knew there was potential for an upset with our driver lineup.”

And as Le Brocq snapped up the Erebus offer to replace the Triple Eight-bound Will Brown, he would have had no idea what was about to unfold for the fortunes of the 2023 Supercars Championship Team.

Stone, however, was analytical in his ultimate replacement.

The established driver and rookie strategy were paramount in Stone’s mind, but finding that line-up presented limited options.

“We started looking at the market, and on paper, Nick was by far the best choice,” Stone said.

“If you ignore the last two years, he had four years of finishing in the top ten in the Championship. Nick was a clear choice, but obviously, there was a state of mind that did put a question mark around him. Did he want to continue to do this?”

Stone was quick to credit Percat and his management for putting them together to explore whether there was any synergy and, in turn, a future.

A single meeting between the two saw the roots of this relationship blossom, and Percat’s desire quickly became evident.

“We were able to get together in a room and talk race cars,” Stone said.

“Suddenly, our passion for this industry and Supercars overtook the conversation, and we started to get excited about it.

“It gave me confidence that Nick wasn’t done and we could get the Nick Percat of old back, and Nick was excited about going racing again without any of the bullshit that goes along with it.”

According to Stone, Matt Stone Racing entered 2024 with modest expectations and was on a mission to improve year over year.

But the results to date, including a stunning win at the Australian Grand Prix for Percat, not only vindicated Stone’s decision to go with Percat but, more importantly, announced loud and clear that the small Queensland-based team is no longer fighting for crumbs.

Sitting sixth in the Supercars Teams Championship in front of Erebus, BJR, and Team 18, plus having both drivers well placed, suggests this is a defining year for MSR.

Hill’s contribution is also a very strong part of this team’s emergence.

Stone believes that as the commercial side of the business continues to evolve and the team keeps improving, MSR can be a force in the Supercars Championship battle. 

Importantly the surname Stone is once again playing a role in this evolving Supercars story.