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Kelly Racing (formerly known as Kelly Grove Racing and Nissan Motorsport) is an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Dunlop Super2 Series. It formerly competed in the Supercars Championship from 2009 to 2021. The team made its debut in 2009, and raced Holden VE Commodores until the end of the 2012 season. In 2013, the team switched to competing with , and was rebranded Nissan Motorsport.
Following the Nissan sponsorship concluding, the team was rebranded back to Kelly Racing in 2019. For 2020 Kelly Racing campaigned two Ford Mustang GTs in the championship. The team is based in the Melbourne suburb of Braeside.
In 2019 the team expanded into the new TCR Australia Touring Car Series, running another four cars, a pair each of Opel Astra branded as and Subaru Impreza. In 2021, the team was rebranded Kelly Grove Racing after the Grove Group bought a majority shareholding in the team.
With a decision by Holden to reduce support for most teams running their Holden Commodore product in the series for 2009, along with the impending economic crisis, Larry Perkins chose to scale back his involvement in the sport through his Perkins Engineering team at the end of 2008. A deal was concluded that saw Perkins Engineering sell much of its hardware including cars to the new team, as well as provide engineering services with the functions gradually to be transferred to Kelly Racing. Many of the former Perkins Engineering transferred to Kelly Racing. Perkins also retained ownership of his RECs and was thus the entrant for the team's third and fourth cars.
Racing numbers were swapped so that the Kelly owned licences could make use of the #7 racing number, to suit major sponsor Jack Daniel's and their "Old Number 7" brand. This sponsorship had been carried over from Perkins Engineering, where Todd Kelly was previously using the #7 racing number.
The team's first race was the 2009 Clipsal 500. The two Kelly brothers finished in the top ten in the first race, Todd in 7th and Rick in 10th, after starting 24th and 17th respectively. Wood, who did not set a qualifying time after a crash in practice, finished 14th after starting from pitlane. Perkins failed to finish due to badly damaged steering caused by brushing the wall. Rick was the only one of the four drivers to finish the second race, again in 10th place. Todd Kelly and Jack Perkins both inflicted steering damage from contact with other cars while Dale Wood spun into the wall. The team left the weekend with Rick Kelly 8th in the championship standings, Todd Kelly in 16th, Dale Wood in 24th and Jack Perkins in 30th. Todd made the following comment on the team's first weekend: "Getting an event under our belt, we've now got pages and pages of things we need to address and improve on. This is our first race as a brand new team so given that, I think the weekend wasn't too bad."
Todd and Rick achieved numerous top ten results as the season went on, the best being Rick's 4th places at Winton and Hidden Valley, while Perkins and Wood struggled. Wood was replaced by Mark McNally from the Townsville round onwards.
Todd and Rick teamed up in the #7 car for the endurances races at Phillip Island and Mount Panorama with Nathan Pretty and Ben Collins driving the #15 car. Dale Wood returned to the driving seat to partner Jack Perkins in the #11 car while Tony Ricciardello joined Mark McNally in the #16 car. The Kelly brothers finished fifth in the L&H 500 after Todd won one of the qualifying races. Bet 24/7 came on board as major sponsor for the #11 car before Bathurst, with Perkins and Wood running #247 for the Bathurst weekend. Todd and Rick Kelly were running in second place with only a handful of laps to go in the Bathurst 1000, but a damaged rear wing and a late safety car led to the brothers finishing in eighth place.
Perkins reverted to #11 for the remainder of the season. The team scored its first podium finish at the Island 300, which turned out to be the first in a hat-trick of podiums for the team, with Rick finishing third and second at Phillip Island and Todd finishing second in race one at Barbagallo. The final championship standings saw Rick Kelly finish in eighth, Todd Kelly in 18th, Jack Perkins in 26th, Dale Wood in 29th and Mark McNally in 30th. Jack Daniel's Racing (#7 and #15) finished sixth in teams' championship with Kelly Racing (#11 and #16) in 13th and last of the two car teams.
Rick took the team's first pole position at Winton but did not manage a win. Only one podium result came out of 2010, Rick finishing third in the rain-affected first race of the Sydney 500.
For the endurance races, Rick and Todd were not allowed to pair up due to new regulations regarding endurance co-drivers. Owen Kelly, of no relation to the two brothers, joined Rick in the #15 car while Dale Wood drove with Todd. Ricciardello was partnered by Taz Douglas while two-time Australian touring car champion Glenn Seton partnered Bargwanna. Rick and Owen had a strong run at the Phillip Island 500, finishing fourth after needing to conserve fuel at the end of the race, while the other three cars all finished outside the top fifteen. The team had a disappointing Bathurst, with none of the cars finishing in the top ten, the best result 16th place for Rick and Owen.
The team hired Scott Dixon and Alex Tagliani as its international drivers for the Gold Coast 600, Dixon driving with Todd Kelly and Tagliani with Bargwanna. Owen Kelly remained with Rick and Wood moved into the #16 car with Ricciardello. It proved to be another average weekend, with Rick and Owen again providing the best result, a sixth place in race two.
The final championship standings saw Rick and Todd repeat their 2009 efforts, finishing eighth and 18th respectively. Bargwanna ended up 24th and Ricciardello was 26th. Jack Daniel's Racing was fifth in the teams' championship and Kelly Racing was 11th.
2011 was the team's most successful season to date. Rick Kelly scored the team's first race win in wet conditions at the Hamilton 400. Todd made it an extra special day by finishing in third place despite having a broken windscreen wiper. Rick won a further two races, with a win in Darwin at Hidden Valley and a win at Sandown later in the season, placing 6th in the championship. Todd for a third year straight placed 18th in the series, Reynolds impressed on his return to V8 Supercars, with numerous top ten qualifying efforts and two top five race results, eventually placing 19th. Murphy placed a respectable 13th in the Pepsi Max Holden.
For the endurance races, the team signed David Russell, Allan Simonsen, Owen Kelly and Tim Blanchard to drive with the team, with Russell joining Todd in Car #7, Simonsen joining Murphy in car #11, Owen Kelly joining Rick in #15 and Blanchard pairing up with Reynolds in #16. For the Gold Coast 600, the team signed Richard Westbrook to drive with Todd, Oliver Gavin to drive with Murphy, Jörg Bergmeister to drive with Rick and Alex Tagliani to join Reynolds. At Phillip Island, all cars finished in the top 15, with car #16 the best in 6th. At Bathurst, a fifth car was entered, the #77 Shannons-Mars Racing Commodore, with Grant Denyer and Cam Waters driving the car. Car #11 claimed Pole position, with #16 qualifying in 4th, the Jack Daniels cars qualified in 16th and 19th, car #77 qualified 29th and Last. Murphy and Simonsen eventually finished 11 seconds behind the winners in 3rd position, with car #16 finishing in 19th, Car #15 placing 22nd and Car #7 placing 24th, some 7 laps down on Murphy and Simonsen, the fifth car of Denyer and Waters did not finish.
Rick Kelly announced his retirement at the end of 2020, he was replaced by David Reynolds who returned to the team. Reynolds brought sponsorship from Penrite, with the car changing to #26 (representing 1926, the year in which Penrite was founded) and his Race Engineer Alistair McVean. Andre Heimgartner continued with the team in car #7.
| 15 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Nathan Pretty Ben Collins | 20th | 156 |
| 16 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Tony Ricciardello Mark McNally | 17th | 160 |
| 247 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Jack Perkins Dale Wood | 14th | 160 |
| 11 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Jason Bargwanna Glenn Seton | DNF | 132 |
| 15 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Rick Kelly Owen Kelly | 16th | 161 |
| 16 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Tony Ricciardello Taz Douglas | 22nd | 158 |
| 11 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Greg Murphy Allan Simonsen | 3rd | 161 |
| 15 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Rick Kelly Owen Kelly | 22nd | 159 |
| 16 | Holden Commodore (VE) | David Reynolds Tim Blanchard | 19th | 161 |
| 77 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Grant Denyer Cam Waters | DNF | 95 |
| 11 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Karl Reindler Daniel Gaunt | 19th | 161 |
| 15 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Rick Kelly David Russell | 15th | 161 |
| 23 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Cam Waters Jesse Dixon | 20th | 158 |
| 51 | Holden Commodore (VE) | Greg Murphy Owen Kelly | 13th | 161 |
| 15 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Rick Kelly Karl Reindler | 19th | 161 |
| 300 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Michael Caruso Daniel Gaunt | 25th | 147 |
| 360 | Nissan Altima (L33) | James Moffat Taz Douglas | 18th | 161 |
| 15 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Rick Kelly David Russell | 8th | 161 |
| 36 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Michael Caruso Dean Fiore | 15th | 158 |
| 360 | Nissan Altima (L33) | James Moffat Taz Douglas | 2nd | 161 |
| 15 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Rick Kelly David Russell | 16th | 161 |
| 23 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Michael Caruso Dean Fiore | 13th | 161 |
| 99 | Nissan Altima (L33) | James Moffat Taz Douglas | 10th | 161 |
| 15 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Rick Kelly Russell Ingall | DNF | 156 |
| 23 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Michael Caruso Dean Fiore | 8th | 161 |
| 96 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Dale Wood David Russell | 9th | 161 |
| 360 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Simona de Silvestro Renee Gracie | 14th | 159 |
| 20 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Todd Kelly Jack Le Brocq | 7th | 161 |
| 23 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Michael Caruso Dean Fiore | 6th | 161 |
| 78 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Simona de Silvestro David Russell | DNF | 152 |
| 11 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Rick Kelly Garry Jacobson | 11th | 161 |
| 23 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Michael Caruso Dean Fiore | DNF | 69 |
| 78 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Simona de Silvestro Alex Rullo | 14th | 161 |
| 7 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Andre Heimgartner Bryce Fullwood | Ret | 157 |
| 15 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Rick Kelly Dale Wood | 8th | 161 |
| 78 | Nissan Altima (L33) | Simona de Silvestro Alex Rullo | 13th | 160 |
| 15 | Ford Mustang GT | Rick Kelly Dale Wood | 17th | 144 |
| 26 | Ford Mustang GT | David Reynolds Luke Youlden | 11th | 161 |
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