MOTORSPORT: Holden reaffirms commitment to Supercars

GM Holden has committed to continuing its V8 Supercars involvement beyond the expiration of contracts with its current factory teams and into the new ‘Gen2’ era scheduled to kick off in 2017.

However, the company which has dominated Australia’s premier motorsport category is also acknowledging that robust debate continues internally about the structure of its future racing program.

And a spokesman concedes there will be changes made, although he wouldn’t specify what they were.

“The overall form and shape of Holden’s involvement in the category will be slightly different in the future,” communications director Sean Poppitt told motoring.com.au.

The news comes as the Holden Racing Team reveals the warpaint of the 2016 VF Holden Commodore that drivers James Courtney and Gather Tander will campaign.

HRT is owned and operated by the Walkinshaw Group, which also controls Commodore tuner Holden Special Vehicles within a portfolio of automotive investments.

Holden’s other factory-backed team is Triple Eight Race Engineering, which enters the two Red Bull Racing Commodores of Jamie Whincup and new recruit Shane van Gisbergen as well as the new Team Vortex entry for Craig Lowndes.

While both teams are looking for new contracts with Holden beyond 2016, the future is complicated by the end of production of the locally-built Commodore late in 2017 and its replacement by an imported model based on Germany's next-generation Opel Insignia.

That car will be named Commodore and will become the basis of Holden’s next-generation racer. But because the road car won’t have a V8, the race car is expected to be powered by a twin-turbo V6.

That will be allowed under new ‘Gen2’ Supercar rules that are scheduled for introduction in 2017 and allow engines other than V8s and bodies other than four-door sedans.

Holden has been depicted as the key driver behind the introduction of the Gen2 rules so the next Commodore can be accommodated on the grid of what is likely to be renamed Supercars, dropping the V8 reference.

“There is certainly total commitment across the business to continue to have a significant presence in V8 Supercars,” said Poppitt.

“It’s very important to us. Racing has been a core part of our DNA for a long time, so that won’t change.

“But we need to keep assessing where the smart place is for us to spend our money to help grow the brand and evolve the brand and we are going to continue look at that.”

Key players in deciding how Holden’s future motorsport structure will look include managing director Mark Bernhard, sales executive director Peter Keley, marketing executive director Geraldine Davys, sponsorships boss Simon McNamara and Poppitt himself.

It is understood the importance of racing to the future of the Holden Commodore is regarded very differently by different members of Holden’s executive team.

“These are all healthy discussions to have,” said Poppitt. “We all know the Holden brand needs to reinvent itself and is going through changes.

“We need to have these discussions about what the right thing is to do.

“But the company is committed to a significant presence in V8 Supercars … Repositioning the Commodore and racing in V8 Supercars is not mutually exclusive.”

Of the two teams Holden currently backs, Triple Eight has by far the stronger recent record, having won four drivers' championships, three Bathurst 1000s and five teams’ championships since it swapped from Ford in 2010. HRT last won the drivers’ championship in 2002, the teams’ championship in 2010 and Bathurst in 2011.

This year Walkinshaw has elected to downsize from four cars to two and concentrate on its HRT entries. Managing director Adrian Burgess said the best thing his team could do was post the best possible results.

“Clearly, if we are winning races and championships it makes all the discussions easier,” he said.

“Our job is to build better race cars than we did last year and if the results are in line with what we expect of ourselves and what Holden and the other partners expect of us then when the the decisions need to be made the process should be easier.”

Dane told motoring.com.au: “We don’t have a commitment to run Holden next year even though we would very much like to.”

Meanwhile, testing is underway for the season-opening Clipsal 500 in Adelaide in two weeks.

DJR Team Penske drivers Scott Pye and Fabian Coulthard were fastest of the Queensland-based teams at Ipswich Raceway yesterday in their Shell Helix Ford Falcons, ahead of Lowndes in his first drive back since breaking his collarbone in a motorcycle accident in the off-season. Then followed van Gisbergen, his replacement at Tekno Will Davison and Whincup.

Victorian-based teams test at Winton on Monday.