Goddard joins Triple Eight wildcard entry

Triple Eight Race Engineering has announced the signing of Zane Goddard to join its Bathurst wildcard entry alongside Craig Lowndes.

Since the start of Triple Eight’s Supercheap Auto-backed wildcard program in 2020, the team has seen two emerging stars Broc Feeney and Declan Fraser graduate into the main game of Supercars in a full-time capacity.

The wildcard entry in the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000, driven by Lowndes and Fraser, finished in eighth place – the highest placing for a wildcard entry at Bathurst.

Fraser moves to Tickford Racing in 2023, where Goddard raced at Bathurst in 2022 before an early-race crash. Goddard was previously full-time at Matt Stone Racing in 2021.

“I’m super excited to be joining the team this year; the Supercheap Auto wildcard program has been so successful for the past two years, and to join a team that have been so dominant in both the drivers’ and teams’ championships is amazing,” said Goddard.

“Having Craig to learn off, not just on the track but also off the track is going to be a great experience. To also work with an iconic brand like Supercheap Auto is fantastic and an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.

“When I was younger, I loved watching Lowndesy winning races, and to now be partnering up with him for the enduro season is amazing – hopefully we can win some races together. To learn off him is going to be the most valuable part; the way he is with sponsors, TV, the way he drives, the way he conducts himself – there’s a lot to learn off him. There’s no one better to learn off especially leading into Bathurst because he’s won so many times.

“It’s not very often you get a new car either, so that’s going to be special as a race car driver. The Camaros look awesome and they’re going to look even better on the track. I had a little bit of an involvement in the Gen3 program last year as a test driver, so hopefully I have an upper hand there. They’re awesome cars and a lot of fun to drive – I think it’s exactly what the category needs.

“I’ve obviously been in the main game before and my aim is to get back there, so working with a great team, a great driver and a great sponsor is hopefully going to help me achieve that. You can develop so much as a driver working with such a great team on and off the track. I really want to get back in a supercar in a full-time capacity and the last two drivers of the Supercheap Auto wildcard program have achieved that.”