Holdsworth: We Have to be Patient

The Sucrogen Townsville 400 wasn’t a highlight for Lee Holdsworth – he didn’t earn a single point across the weekend.

Holdsworth and his IRWIN Tools Erebus Motorsport V8 ran one lap short of qualifying as a finisher in Saturday’s Race 20, despite the hard work of the crew, and the car dropped oil pressure on Sunday, prompting Holdsworth to park it and not risk further damage.

However while the 30-year old is frustrated, he reminds himself it takes patience with the new Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs.

“It’s been a difficult year but we’ve got a vision in our sights – to be a Championship winning team,” Holdsworth told v8supercars.com.au.

“We knew it wasn’t going to come in our first year, possibly not our second, it’s long term for us so we have to be patient.”

While frustration is inevitable for the former front-runner, the positive for Holdsworth was there were specific milestones to look forward to. Each hit-out there’s a hope to go one better than last time.

“It’s exciting to hit new milestones for Erebus Motorsport V8 – every race meeting we seem to make some gains. It’s exciting going to meetings not really knowing where you can finish – but know you can generally finish better than last meeting.

“So in one way it’s exciting and another, frustrating – it’s been a pretty tough journey. The team is putting in some really long hours, but we’re moving forward… There’s so much to look forward to with podium positions and wins on the cards hopefully. That’s going to be a lot more rewarding for us than other teams, when it happens.

“That’s what keeps you pushing on and keeps you positive, enthusiastic and motivated.”

Testing today at Queensland Raceway – where the next event is being held, the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 – Holdsworth feels the chassis is handling well, but that there are plenty of areas to improve.

His personal goal is to gain a better understanding of what changes at the circuit and how the car responds.

“The track changes a lot through the day at Queensland Raceway – it’s quick in the mornings and the afternoons, and there are breezy periods midday… it can really throw the setup out the window when it gets to that mid-part.

“The engineers will have other ideas of what they want to do, so there’s plenty to test out there.”

Erebus Motorsport V8 has been involved in the inevitable “silly season” gossip, as Holdsworth’s teammate Tim Slade becomes a free agent at the end of the season.

On Friday v8supercars.com.au reported Roland Dane’s consideration of running four Triple Eight cars and named Slade and his REC (Racing Entitlements Contract) holder James Rosenberg as potential movers.

That afternoon Erebus Motorsport V8 issued a statement from CEO Ryan Maddison stating the team’s interest in stability and continuity.

“My intention is to not disrupt our trajectory in any way and to keep building on the current development and performance phase we are in,” Maddison said.

“There has been much speculation in the media about potential driver, sponsor and REC changes, in particular Tim Slade and James Rosenberg, however one-on-one discussions with all parties have taken place and our aim is to enter the 2014 season with the same structure of drivers, cars and crew we have at present.

“To date this year we have achieved the milestones we said we would and the best way to continue developing our program is to maintain continuity across all areas of our business. We want a culture of performance, not change.

“I have had a number of category drivers mention to me that they would like a Mercedes-Benz as their drive car, but right now they’ll have to purchase that themselves.”

Holdsworth agreed stability within the driving group was important moving forward.

“It is important to have continuity in the team, especially with the drivers. All three of us are working towards the same thing and wanting the same thing – that happens a hell of a lot quicker than when there’s only one.

“At the moment we’ve got a pretty good thing happening.”