HRT Still Can't Run With the Bulls

New Walkinshaw Racing boss Adrian Burgess has warned James Courtney’s sensational Clipsal 500 Adelaide victory does not mean the Holden Racing Team is ready to go wheel-to-wheel with Red Bull Racing Australia in every race. 

“It’s crazy isn’t it? I certainly didn’t go to Adelaide expecting that. You try for it and you want it and you work to earn it and I am over the moon with it, but I am not painting the wrong picture here,” Burgess told v8supercars.com.au.

“We still have a massive amount of work to do. We enjoyed the moment on the day, but Monday it was head down and arse up and try and make the things better for the next one.”

Burgess, controversially recruited by team owner Ryan Walkinshaw from RBRA last year, only took over at Clayton in January after serving six months gardening leave.

He has instituted significant change in the engineering structure, with Mat Nilsson rejoining the operation after three years at Ford Performance Racing as his number two.

The team has also added a fourth car for Nick Percat to drive and replaced Russell Ingall in the Supercheap Auto entry with Tim Slade, while Courtney and Garth Tander continue at HRT.

The four cars are all mobile test beds for an array of changes and upgrades that are constantly flowing from the organisation’s manufacturing facility, which is now under the charge of long-time Walkinshaw employee Englishman Tony Dowe.

The on-track evaluation process started at the sydney.com pre-season test, continued in Adelaide and further new parts will flow onto the four cars at the 2014 Formula One Rolex Australian Grand Prix support races. 

“We are pushing very hard,” Burgess said. “We know we need to push hard, qualifying shows where the car is; we are three to four tenths off the pace (of the Red Bull cars).

“We can get ourselves in the shootout but we are not good enough for pole. We are three or four tenths off and if we find that then we will be able to run like that every week.”

Burgess revealed that different cars would test different components to speed up the evaluation.

“Be it engine or suspension, we will spread it across the board to be fair. But we will make sure we have the right component with the right drivers and right engineer to evaluate it correctly. 

“There isn’t a manual where you can go and buy all this crap. You have to design it with a reason and philosophy in mind and still got to evaluate it and make sure it is the right thing to do. Not just make out it’s better, you have to try out these things.”

Burgess said he was pleased with the way the drivers and their crews gelled as the Adelaide event went on and that Courtney was able to fight off RBRA’s Craig Lowndes and score a win despite only qualifying 15th for the Sunday 250km mini-marathon.

“‘JC’ had it hanging out all afternoon. So our job is to get to the point where he is not having to wring its neck every single lap and he can control what’s going on and pace it. That is what those guys (RBRA) can do. We can’t do that yet, we are a long way from there.

“We didn’t win that because we had the quickest car. We won that because we made the right decision throughout the day and we took our chances when they came.” 

Courtney took the lead when Lowndes had to throttle back to conserve fuel, while his RBRA teammate Jamie Whincup lost his shot at winning after copping a drive through penalty for a pit stop infringement.

Post-race Courtney revealed his engineers Robbie Starr and Al McVean had taken a punt on reverting to their 2013 Gold Coast 600 suspension set-up for Sunday’s race after being disappointed with the car’s pace in Saturday’s two 125km races.

“I think today we got 100 per cent out of the package whereas those guys (RBRA) ran at 80 or 90 per cent,” Courtney said after scoring his first Clipsal win.“When we can get 100 per cent out of everything and everyone does their job correctly then we can get a result.

“But we are having to drive the thing far too hard at the moment to get the results.” 

Courtney has recorded just one win at upcoming event the Formula One Rolex Grand Prix, back in 2010 with Dick Johnson Racing in his Championship year. Will his winning form continue across this week's races? Be there to find out – tickets for the phenomenal Melbourne event are available now.