Milestone mates

Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison both line up for their 150th V8 Supercars event start this weekend at the Perth SuperSprint.

Both started racing full-time in the category in 2006 and while they have had very different careers, the duo spent a year as teammates at Erebus Motorsport in 2014 and both race in one-car teams with Triple Eight support.

Davison recently celebrated 300 races in V8 Supercars, which prompted him to reflect on his highs and lows over the years and said he enjoyed a ‘good stat’.

“I love a stat – I love winning stats more than that, but any milestones are cool,” he told v8supercars.com.

“I’ve had some good longevity … it must mean I’ve been around for a while!”

With a Bathurst 1000 victory, second place in the Championship in 2009 and 18 race wins to his name, Davison is hunting for more at TEKNO in the Darrell Lea STIX Commodore.

He was pleased to share the milestone with Holdsworth, who is also still learning about the Triple Eight car this season. 

“We shared some interesting chats for a year – I really worked well with Lee for that year, he was a great teammate,” Davison said.

“I really enjoyed working with him for the season. Now we’re not teammates but running similar equipment so we’ve often had a few chats this year. Not as teammates would, but we can openly have a bit of a chat about the cars, because we’re all fishing from the same pool.”

Holdsworth agreed longevity was important in the sport and said he had been lucky to have had good people around him throughout his V8 Supercars career.

“It’s funny how you get your different generations come through and staying there for a long time which is pretty cool,” he said.

“I remember doing my 300th race at Homebush in 2014, but I certainly didn’t think I’d be up to 150 rounds by now!

“It’s bit of an eye opener – it doesn’t feel like I’ve been in the championship that long, but time flies when you’re having fun.  

“I’d certainly like to get a few more race wins in there, but certainly enjoyed myself and I’ve been very fortunate to be surrounded by good people and be able to have such a long career in the sport.”

Holdsworth has earned three race wins, his most recent at Winton with Erebus in 2014. Those victories were his career highlights – but the man voted the ‘drivers’ driver’ also paid tribute to the impact of others along the way.

“The mates I’ve gained in the sport and the good times I’ve had the past 11 years has been something I’ll treasure, so I’ll always remember and know I’ve always kept in mind how lucky I am to be in the sport.

“I’ve always worked very hard to get results and never left sight of where I started.

“With full-time racing, it was with Garry Rogers and … without Garry I wouldn’t be here. I still believe that to this day.”