With last weekend's Gold Coast 600 finishing the 2016 Pirtek Enduro Cup it's incredible to look back at some of the co-drivers that were at the top of the game, and really earned the praise that was heaped upon them from their respective teams.
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Cup winners were Shane van Gisbergen and the Frenchman Alex Premat who became the first international team to win the cup.
What is really amazing is how many of the co-drivers were former full time championship drivers. Two of these Premat and David Wall who had both been full time with Garry Rogers Motorsport in recent years but stood down after their respective contracts expired, and they were very impressive in the last three races.
All up there were 20 Enduro co-drivers that had previously driven full time in the Supercar Championship which is pretty amazing on its own, but it gets even better for the entire top 10 co-drivers were all former full-timers.
The top 10 were Van Gisbergen, Premat, Will Davison/Jonathon Webb, Scott McLaughlin/David Wall, Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell, Craig Lowndes/Steven Richards, Chaz Mostert/Steve Owen, Nick Percat/Cameron McConville, Fabian Coulthard/Luke Youlden, Tim Slade/Ash Walsh and Michael Caruso/Dean Fiore.
It is amazing how well the bulk of these part time Supercar racers performed, including Webb who was never a real front runner as a full timer but has excelled as a co-driver, and has been a winner at Bathurst twice this year, in the Bathurst 12 Hour race and Bathurst 1000.
Dumbrell is another, and after starting at a very young age around 16 was later picked up by Larry Perkins, but he never really looked a winner. But look at him now, he can and does mix it with the best of them.
Another to look up is Warren Luff, a two time Enduro Cup winner who drove with Garth Tander in the #2 Holden Racing Team Holden and won the first round, the Sandown 500.
Then the second round at Mount Panorama Garth was looking an almost certain podium finisher until that controversial accident 11 laps out. On the weekend following the incident with Fabian Coulthard that subsequently saw two penalties imposed.
Another driver who will more than likely join the co-driver ranks in 2017 is Jason Bright. It was announced on Tuesday that after seven years he will be leaving Brad Jones Racing at season's end and it doesn't look as if he will be in another team as a full-timer.
Meanwhile, not long after details of Bright's impending departure were released, BJR’s confirmed that Nick Percat will join their Albury-based outfit in 2017.
