HRT Banks a Win and Potential Dollars Too
Sunday’s one-two finish in the Sucrogen 400 Townsville means the monkey is off the back for the Holden Racing Team and it also could mean more money in the bank.
Jubilant team owner Ryan Walkinshaw, in Townsville to watch Garth Tander and James Courtney’s formation finish in the 200km race, confirmed the result came just at the right time as he negotiated new commercial deals for 2014 and beyond.
“We have been talking to a few potential partners this weekend in particular and have been running about for the last three weeks while I am in Australia having a lot of presentation meetings with a few people we would like to bring onboard,” the Englishman told v8supercars.com.au.
“We knew coming into this weekend that we needed a good result on the back of that to help those discussions fall into place.
“So I am pretty confident I can go back next week and have a second conversation with them and have something good to show them.”
Walkinshaw, the son of the late Tom Walkinshaw who established both the Holden Racing Team and the Holden Special Vehicles hot Commodore road car business, has recast the motorsport operation with the support of his mother Martine – who was also in Townsville – since he took over in the wake of his father’s death in late 2010.
Key decisions included the hiring in late 2011 of former Formula One and NASCAR engineer Steve Hallam as managing director. The veteran Englishman has methodically rebuilt the structure and process of HRT, as well as leading the development of the new Car of the Future.
Townsville was the first HRT win since the 2011 Supercheap Auto 1000, breaking a 58 race drought for the factory team. Walkinshaw and Hallam both came under intense pressure and scrutiny during that long dry spell.
It is also understood the Walkinshaw family contributed significant funding to top up the budget of the team. There have also been rumours of the team being for sale, which have been emphatically denied.
Adding further pleasure for the factory-backed operation was the two other cars operating under the Walkinshaw Racing umbrella in last Sunday’s race, Russell Ingall’s Supercheap Auto Commodore and the Team HIFLEX customer entry for Tony D’Alberto, having finished fifth and sixth.
It also came after the operation had battled for two days with a series of shock absorber breakages on all four cars on the aggressive Reid Park circuit kerbs.
“It’s an awesome day and a big morale boost,” Walkinshaw said. “It has been a long, long time coming and it’s great to see all the hard work everyone has put in over the last 18 months has finally paid some dividends. We needed that.”
Walkinshaw admitted he had doubts along the way whether the team would actually manage to clamber back to the front of the field, acknowledging there is still work to be done.
“One win doesn’t make a Championship. I am sure we still have a couple more changes to come in the future, it’s not yet 100 percent there but it’s certainly on the up.”
He admitted to significant nerves during the race: “When I get nervous I eat and drink a lot so during the race I think I went through about 15 packets of crisps. It was definitely nerve-wracking and just counting down the last 20 laps was pretty tense.
“It’s not as tense as when you are doing it at Bathurst, but considering the drought we have had it definitely felt up there.”
Bathurst 2013 has been the point where Walkinshaw has consistently predicted the team would be truly competitive.
“If you are going to make a leap forward in your car performance then this is the time to do it. It gives us a couple of rounds before then to get our game into gear and hopefully we will be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to hitting The Mountain.”
