Holdsworth happy with Holden move

His team owner has made a shock switch from Ford to Holden for 2015 - and Lee Holdsworth couldn't be happier with the turn of events.

Holdsworth generated plenty of headlines last year, having suffered some disastrous crashes in his Erebus Mercedes-Benz, as well as earning the developing team's first ever race win.

While Erebus had announced him continuing on with the team, it was unexpectedly confirmed that Holdsworth had signed instead with Charlie Schwerkolt for 2015, looking set to steer a Ford Falcon within the Prodrive stable.

However, Schwerkolt elected to take his Racing Entitlements Contract (REC, his licence to race) elsewhere, and in an interesting silly season twist, will make up the fourth car at Walkinshaw Racing after the departure of James Rosenberg, who's REC underpinned Nick Percat's entry in 2014.

When signing with Schwerkolt, Holdsworth was looking to race somewhere he could really push for results - and while the shifting REC did cause some uncertainty, the 31-year old driver believes he's now in an even better position than he had expected.

"The whole reason for leaving Erebus was to jump into a proven, competitive car in a factory team - and I guess nothing has changed there, the boxes are all ticked," Holdsworth told v8supercars.com.au.

"I'm certainly not disappointed, I think if anything, it's a step forward from where we would have been anyway.

"I'm feeling very confident about the future and especially with the way Holden are going in the sport - with their commitment to the sport long-term, I couldn't have asked for a better outcome."

While Ford announced it would pull out of V8 Supercars at the conclusion of 2015, Holden has committed to supporting the Holden Racing Team side of the Walkinshaw garage until the end of 2016 - and Holdsworth has no reservations about the competitiveness of the fourth Walkinshaw Holden after Nick Percat's 2014 performance.

"Nick did a fantastic job in his first year there and showed the potential of that car. I have no doubt I'm jumping in a car that's competitive and even to the other three cars in the stable.

"One thing that was playing in my mind going to FPR at first [was] how that car ended up in the Championship. I know that Jack [Perkins] is a very good driver and there's always questions over whether it was more to do with the car than the driver.

"[At WR] I guess I know I am getting into a competitive car."

While there was some uncertainty as to where the CS Racing REC would end up, Holdsworth praised Schwerkolt's handling of the situation.

"Charlie has always been very honest with me, I was the first to know there was the possibility we wouldn't be at FPR, that we may sign with Walkinshaw," Holdsworth said.

"And like I said, the main aim for me was to get into a competitive car, and nothing has changed there.

"It's a different brand obviously - it's a brand I've been with for the majority of my career. The last time I was in a Holden was 2011 and I had a lot of success in a Holden, so I've got some good memories, so certainly I wasn't disappointed, it was just a bit of a shock.

"But you have to look at everything and see whether you've got the best opportunity still - and I believe everything is there for me to do the job now."

Holdsworth and his young family will move from the Gold Coast to Melbourne so Holdsworth can be closer to the team. He will be engineered by Alex Somerset, who ran the fourth Walkinshaw Commodore in 2014.