New backer for Holdsworth Mustang

Lee Holdsworth’s The Bottle-O Mustang will take on a splash of yellow for the remainder of the season as he strives to build on a breakthrough outing in New Zealand.

The livery tweak to the #5’s green and white combination comes as heavy equipment servicing business SuperService joins the Tickford Racing fold as an associate partner.

“We’re thrilled to have SuperService join the team, especially as we take aim at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000,” said Tickford CEO and team principal Tim Edwards.

Holdsworth sits 10th in the standings heading into the PIRTEK Enduro Cup, which will kick-off at Mount Panorama across October 10-13.

The 36-year-old was in top form last time out in Pukekohe, securing a fifth-place race finish on the Saturday before qualifying on the front-row for the finale.

He was duly voted by fans as the Shell V-Power Top Performer of the weekend.

“Lee has really come along from the middle of the year onwards, which we’re really happy about,” Edwards said.

“He’s homing in on the podium and was certainly in line to pull it off at Pukekohe.

“He’s really pushing hard, as is the whole team, and we’ll surely be giving it everything these last few rounds to make it happen.”

Holdsworth will be partnered with Thomas Randle for the three endurance rounds and believes the promising rookie will have no trouble being on the pace at the Mountain.

“I don’t think there will be too much for him to learn in terms of speed, I think it will more be about the approach to it, the mental approach to the race and keeping a cool head,” Holdsworth told Supercars.com.

“It’s obviously his first Bathurst 1000 – that’s a huge deal and if you’re not in the right frame of mind, that can really affect you.

“I’m really confident with him having the [wildcard] round at Tailem Bend under his belt and showing his speed.

“I suppose he proved a point to the co-drivers and to the rest of the field that he’s not going to be a guy that you can push around and he’s going to have the speed to be able to mix it among the best co-drivers out there.

“It will just be about managing his expectations and his speed and making sure that we limit all the mistakes and if we can do that, then we’ll have a really good shot.”

Tickford are one of seven Victorian teams conducting a pre-Bathurst test day at Winton today, a day after their Queensland counterparts ran at Ipswich.