Ownership shake-up at Australian Racing Group

ARG announced today that Garry Rogers is now its largest shareholder after expanding his investment in the business.

As part of the restructure of ownership there are also management changes, with shareholder and director John McMellan no longer involved in ARG management or operational duties.

The move continues the consolidation of power for the Rogers family in ARG, with Barry Rogers having already held a 75 per cent stake, with another 20 per cent held by McMellan and five per cent by James Warburton.

That has clearly been overhauled with this latest change that has seen Rogers Senior end up as the major shareholder.

The finer details of the current shareholding haven't been revealed, although it appears to be total, or near-total, ownership for the Rogers family.

“We are committed and continue to invest in motorsport and the Australian Racing Group, its categories and the sport in general," said Garry Rogers.

“Moving forward, I plan to be more hands on and hopefully my 60-plus years in this sport and enthusiasm will attract some like-minded people who can work with [chief operating officer] Liam Curkpatrick to re-energise the business.”

ARG is effectively the second-tier owner and promoter of motorsport in Australia.

It is closely tied up with Motorsport Australia on running the SpeedSeries and owns and operates the Bathurst 6 Hour and Bathurst International events.

It either owns, runs or manages a suite of categories including TCR Australia, S5000, Touring Car Masters, GT World Challenge Australia, and Trans Am.

Garry Rogers Motorsport is active in most of those categories and is also the technical partner for S5000.

A number of those categories, TCR and S5000 in particular, have been struggling for numbers this season, with the former stuck in the early teens, and S5000 lucky to hit double digits.

TCM has also failed to attract the sort of grids seen in its heyday.