Supporting the Small Teams Important to Holden
Holden Motorsport and Sponsorship Manager Simon McNamara played a key role in matching V8 Supercars stalwart Russell Ingall with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport for 2014.
Though Holden primarily supports the Holden Racing Team and Red Bull Racing Australia as its factory teams, McNamara emphasised the importance of also looking after the little guys.
“That’s really where it all came from,” McNamara told v8supercars.com.au of the recently announced deal.
He admitted enticing Ingall into the seat was not an easy task, but felt it was the ideal scenario for all parties, giving the 49-year old driver another hit-out in the Championship and keeping LDM – which scaled back to a one-car operation this year – on the grid.
“He (Ingall) was keen in some way to get back into the sport – it’s helped him out, the whole thing has fit together. All the planets aligned, if you want to put it that way, which doesn’t always happen with these sorts of deals…
“It was really his (Ingall's) opportunity to get back into the category and help us maintain some teams and some cars running around.”
The release of the 2014 grid last week showed Holden entries once again outnumber the four other manufacturers, with 11 VF Commodores in the field, compared to six Fords, four Nissans, and two Erebus Mercedes’ and Volvos.
However, while some fans are critical of the imbalance on the grid, McNamara felt it was the strong package Holden offered that attracted V8 Supercars participants to running the manufacturer's cars.
“The reality is, we’ve taken a very solid approach in what we do with our motor racing program. We’ve embraced the program and embrace our teams to try and make it a family feel,” he said.
“We do a lot of things behind the scenes people don’t see that generates almost a bit of family love between our group...
“We certainly try and help everybody in some way, shape or form, and it’s pretty fair and equitable to be honest, other than our two factory teams.
“I think that’s where it stems from – we show a lot of family love to these guys… We have a pretty good car, and people want a good car to go car racing, so if they choose our car, that’s up to them – but we will certainly help where we can.”
While Dumbrell and McNamara had discussed the possibility of running a younger driver in the entry, Ingall’s skill set and brand proved the best option to attract sponsorship for the car – which they found with Phil Munday’s Repair Management.
“Commercially, teams need money to race,” McNamara said. “It’s good to put a young guy in the car, but then it’s going to be hard to find funding.
“So the plan was to get this team towards the front end of the field this year. And to have someone of Russell’s ability available, it was certainly a pretty easy decision to try and get him.”
Ingall will hit the track in his #23 Commodore on Saturday at the sydney.com V8 Supercars Test Day, which is free for fans.
