Holdsworth's eye on more podiums

It was a harder day on Sunday, but Erebus Motorsport’s Lee Holdsworth rates his Winton race win as his career best.

And now, his sights are set on more podium finishes, with more to come for the Erebus Mercedes’ in the near future.

“There’s still a lot coming our way in terms of upgrades and things that are really going to help us get into the top three or knock on the door of the top three every weekend,” Holdsworth told v8supercars.com.au.

“Once we get there, obviously you’ve got to make the next step to winning races week in, week out.”

Holdsworth – who racked up his third V8 Supercars win on Saturday, and first since Homebush 2010, when he raced with Garry Rogers Motorsport – languished mid-pack during Sunday’s 200km race. But it was hard to be disappointed after delivering Erebus its historic first victory and reaping the reward for all of last year’s hard work.

“I finished up 15th in that race, and fifth for the weekend – I’m in the top 10 in the Championship, which was our aim coming into this weekend,” Holdsworth said.

“We certainly didn’t think we’d get a race win, so I think everyone can be pretty pleased with their efforts.”

It will be remembered as one of the highlights of 2014, when Holdsworth pressured Lockwood Racing’s Fabian Coulthard in the closing laps, edging his AMG Mercedes up the inside at turn three with just two laps to go.

Team owner and fan favourite Betty Klimenko was emotional and gushed about Holdsworth’s talent, while the crew was rewarded for all the work and dedication it had taken to build the new generation V8 Supercars, with all the intricacies of a manufacturer change as well.

“I was asked how does this one rate – I think this one is the best in a couple of ways,” the 31-year old said.

“Probably because it was out of genuine speed. We were the quickest car on track, we got the quickest lap time, and we were able to get to the lead and drive away.

“That was the most satisfying thing and to have the team – Erebus have never won a race, so they were with me all the way and very special moment for everyone in here after what we’ve endured. It’s been a tough one and there’s a bit of reward now.”

On Sunday, the team found it difficult to come to grips with very different track conditions. The V8 Supercars went straight into 20 minutes of qualifying and the glory of Saturday disappeared quickly.

“Unfortunately when we have such a variance in conditions we sometime can’t quite nail it the next day, and we need to work out why.

“So both cars were well back in the field in qualifying and we were just trying to find a direction, basically in the race, so we know what to do next time.”

But from here, it’s talk of success rather than struggle.  

“Last year was hard, rocking up to the race tracks going, what are we going to do this weekend, the best we could do was probably 15th – sometimes we shocked ourselves and got into the top 10 – but very, very rarely.

“Now we’re doing it consistently, week in, week out, in the top 10. And that was our aim to get to by the end of last year.

“We probably didn’t get to that point but we’re here now and we’ve moved forward huge amounts.”

Holdsworth became the fifth different driver to win a Championship race this season, Mark Winterbottom adding to that list on Sunday after victory in the 200km sprint around Winton.