Supercars 2022 grid completed by Pither, Coulthard…

Supercars 2022 grid completed by Pither, Coulthard sidelined

As revealed by Autosport last week, Pither quickly emerged as a front-runner for a full-time Supercars return after Peter Xiberras took ownership of the former Team Sydney squad.

Pither's comeback has now been sealed, the Kiwi replacing compatriot Fabian Coulthard in the new team's line-up for the coming season.

The 2018 Super2 champion's last full-time Supercars campaign was with the same outfit in 2020, when it was still owned by the Webb family and running under the Team Sydney banner.

His only other previous full-time season was in the Tickford-run Super Black Racing entry in 2016, which yielded a pole position at Queensland Raceway.

Pither will join existing Team Sydney driver Garry Jacobson in the PremiAir Racing line-up.

Both Coulthard and Jacobson had to renegotiate their deals after the sale, with their existing contracts tied to the Webbs.

It appears the dissolution of those contracts only happened this week, Jacobson able to re-sign with PremiAir Racing while Coulthard has been left without a full-time ride.

The 13-time Supercars race winner will therefore not be on the grid as a primary driver for the first time since 2008.

He will be well-placed to land a good Bathurst 1000 ride however, with one potential option alongside reigning Great Race winner Chaz Mostert at Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Pither returns to the squad he last raced for in 2020 under its Team Sydney guise (Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images)

There is significant change for 2022 up and down the field, including the retirement of seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup.

Insight: The qualities that made retiring legend Whincup a Supercars great

He has moved into the managing director role at Triple Eight while teenage rookie Broc Feeney takes over the #88 T8 Holden.

Tickford will re-expand to four cars for the coming campaign, current drivers Cam Waters and James Courtney joined by highly-rated rookie Thomas Randle and new signing Jake Kostecki.

Jack Le Brocq will effectively replace Kostecki at Matt Stone Racing in an all-new line-up alongside outgoing BJR driver Todd Hazelwood.

BJR, meanwhile, has retained Jack Smith and Macauley Jones, while Andre Heimgartner and Bryce Fullwood will join the team.

Fullwood's place at Walkinshaw Andretti United alongside Mostert will be taken by ex-BJR driver Nick Percat, that pair forming a powerhouse line-up.

Grove Racing has signed Mostert's Bathurst-winning co-driver Lee Holdsworth to partner David Reynolds, while Pither comes back into a full-time seat at PremiAir.

Dick Johnson Racing, Team 18, Erebus Motorsport and Blanchard Racing Team are all set to field unchanged line-ups this season.