Hino has announced it has extended its sponsorship of Charlie Schwerkolt’s Team 18 operation in the Repco Supercars Championship for a further two years until the end of season 2023.
The arrangement with Team 18 sits alongside Hino’s sponsorship deal with the Supercars Championship, which it also extended for another five seasons last year taking it up to 2024. It also adds to the heavy truck industry involvement in the Supercars Championship with Isuzu announcing its increased activity recently with the WAU team and NTI Truck Assist, Kenworth’s ongoing support for hte series and various teams, Daimler’s truck supply deal with the Triple 8 Red Bull Racing Team and a range of other supply and support deals for other brands including Volvo, Mack, MAN and Iveco.
It clearly reflects a need to reach and engage truck buyers who have an affinity with motor racing, with market research revealing a strong connection between that demographic and the sport.
The Hino Team 18 relationship, commenced in 2018, and will see it again backing the team and its drivers. Mark Winterbottom who was the 2015 Supercar champion and Scott Pye.
Its one of the first marketing announcements made by Hino’s newly appointed vice president of brand and franchise development, Richard Emery.
“This announcement is a natural expansion of our major sponsorship of Supercars, a relationship which is entering its seventh year and will continue until at least 2024,” said Richard Emery, for Hino Australia.
“As part of this, we will retain the naming rights to the popular Hino Hub which features our brand ambassador Neil Crompton along with Mark Larkham.”
“For Hino, Supercars is the ideal sport to partner with – it allows us to continue to build our brand, while providing our dealers and customers with unique trackside experiences.
“Partnering with Team 18 further enhances those experiences, while allowing us to continue developing strong relationships with the other businesses involved with Team 18.”
“We have a very strong working relationship with team owner, Charlie Schwerkolt who is a long-standing customer of Hino and the Toyota Group of companies, and it is a logical fit to continue to support his team while further enhancing the Hino brand.
“Over the last five years, Hino has completed a full product line-up refresh and this partnership allows us to further showcase these products through collaborative partner activations,” he concluded.
Schwerkolt’s main business is Waverley Forklifts, one of Australia’s largest suppliers of forklift trucks and he welcomed Hino’s ongoing involvement.
“This year we’re entering our fifth season with Hino and it’s been a hugely successful partnership for both organisations, through the connections made within the wider Team 18 sponsor group,” Schwerkolt said.
“For us, 2022 is our year to bounce back, we have retained our star driver line-up with Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye ready to lead the charge for the third straight season, and they’re hungry to get back on track and fight at the front of one of the toughest Supercars grids we’ve seen in a long time,” he added.
“With the new Gen-3 rules coming and the Chevrolet Camaro set to hit the track in 2023, we’re looking ahead to an exciting period for the sport and it’s great to have Hino along for the ride,” he concluded.
The 2022 Supercars Championship starts on 4th March at the season-opening Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight round.
