Lee Holdsworth - 6th in Konica Minolta Debut
26/2/2004 2:03 (Press Release) -
In what can only be described as an extraordinary result for a first timer in a V8Supercar, the young Smiths Truck driver from Brisbane, Lee Holdsworth finished 6th in the first round of the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar meeting at Wakefield Park.
Alan Gurr, also driving for the Smiths Trucks team won the meeting for Holden with Lee Holdsworth being the second Holden across the line in the final race.
A karter since 7 years old, Lee had spent 2 years in Commodore Cup finishing 3rd in the 2003 National Series in a car prepared by Lee, his brother Brett and his father. He had completed only 20 laps of Winton in a V8 Supercar in an initial driver test prior to arriving at the Wakefield Park track for the first round of the 2004 Konica Minolta Series.
Fuel system problems in Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions resulted in him having only 6 minutes to qualify the car in anger. He completed only three qualifying laps before the fuel problem 'parked' the car at the side of the track with him in 17th grid position.
The first race on Sunday saw Lee move up from 17th to finish 12th.
In race 2 an oil leak resulted in him being unable to join the grid prior to race start. He consequently started from pit lane at the back of the field. From there he worked his way up to finish 14th.
The combined race 1 and 2 points gave Lee grid position 10 for the final 30 lap race 3. Already this was a significant achievement for the just turned 21 year old Queenslander on his first Supercar outing. But better was yet to come.
In race 3 in pouring rain he moved up to 4th position in the field before settling into 6th place which he held down throughout the later stages of the race. Lee had never driven on "wets" before, let alone driven a car with in excess of 600 bhp in the rain.
Alan Gurr and Lee Holdsworth were the first two Holdens across the line in the final race.
Lee's overall final position on the day was 6th.
Mr Paul McIlvride, Director of Appian Technology Pty Ltd, one of Lee's corporate supporters said that "the result was far in excess of what we could have expected of a young rookie driver in his first V8 Supercar race. I couldn't believe how calm Lee stayed whilst all the fuel system problems were occurring, and then to have to start from pit lane in race 2 seemed to be the final straw. To finish the day in 6th position would have been incredible in even normal circumstances. The result justifies our investment in Lee and our involvement with the Smiths Trucks team."
Smiths Trucks team owner Robert Smith was ecstatic. Having Alan Gurr win the round and with Lee Holdsworth giving him two cars in the final six places he has every reason to be happy to have chosen two such talented young drivers.
Release Date: 25/02/2004
Smiths Truck Racing
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