Holden Racing Team averts disaster after Transporter misses ship

The Holden Racing Team will race at Winton this weekend despite its B-Double transporter missing its ship to cross Bass Strait last night.

The transporter, carrying HRT’s famous Holden Commodore V8 Supercars for drivers Garth Tander and James Courtney and valuable support equipment, missed the scheduled departure time by five minutes.

But the team averted disaster due to its Scania R620 V8 truck and B-Double trailer being equipped with the new Aqua Pro™ floatation kit, the transporter successfully completing the Bass Strait crossing overnight and emerging from the water at the St Kilda Marina boat ramp this morning.

HRT’s transporter driver Daryl Kruizinga said the Bass Strait crossing, believed to be a first for a V8 Supercars B-Double race transporter, was comfortable.

“Traffic out of Launceston was ridiculous, it held me up enough that I arrived at the docks five minutes late – and needless to say, the ship had already sailed,” Kruizinga said.

“At first I was a little concerned seeing the ship sailing off into the sunset, but I flicked the Aqua Pro™ switch and away we went. 

“I took my time and followed the Spirit of Tasmania over, arriving back in Melbourne as scheduled.”

Kruizinga said he was impressed with Aqua Pro™ equipped Scania. 

“On the highway my V8-powered Scania drives like a Holden Calais V, comfortable and responsive, while on water it floats just like the Queen Mary.”

Practice for the third round of the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship begins at Winton this Friday.