Gary MacDonald, driving the Kanga Loaders Racing AU Falcon, brought home a 5th place in the first Holden Performance Driving Centre V8 Supercar Series race of the 2005 season.
7/4/2005 18:50 (Press Release) -
Senior motor sport journalist Mark Fogarty looks at just some of the big changes that promise to make this year’s V8 Super Championship Series more intriguing than ever
There have been so many changes over the summer that it’s easier to list what isn’t different about this year’s V8 Supercar Championship Series than what is.
Unprecedented activity over the off-season – driver moves, team transformations and rule changes – means even die-hard fans may struggle to keep track of all the upheaval during this weekend’s title kick-off at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.
What hasn’t changed is the man to beat. Double defending champion Marcos Ambrose may have his heart set on NASCAR stock car racing in the USA next year, but his eyes are firmly fixed on a third straight championship this season.
Ambrose and his crack Stone Bros Racing team will be under siege, facing what looks like stronger and deeper opposition, but Ford’s front-running combination won’t be toppled easily.
A title hat trick is a rare feat, but with the point score system favouring consistency, the “Devil Racer” has proven reliability as well as pacesetting speed on his side, thanks to SBR’s meticulous engineering.
His insular attitude annoys his rivals, but they all agree that he does, indeed, drive like a man possessed – of great skill, that is.
Ambrose will be again be supported by rambunctious Russell Ingall, who is determined the shrug off his ‘bridesmaid’ tag after finishing runner-up the last two years running – and five times in the past seven seasons.
Ingall should be more like his old fiery, feisty self after spending most of last season on probation for his headline-making clash with Mark Skaife at Eastern Creek at the end of 2003. It can’t be a coincidence that Ingall was uncharacteristically subdued on the track until the sanction was lifted at the last round back at the Creek, where he raced tenaciously to snatch second place in the title.
Also unaltered is the line-up at Holden Racing Team, although the lead Lion squad has undergone a significant realignment behind the scenes. After what could only be described as a horror season in ’04 – riddled with errors and failures – Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly are determined to reassert the Red Team’s superiority.
Under the discreet guidance of British motor sport impresario Tom Walkinshaw, HRT has been working to add consistency and reliability to the speed its cars had last year. Team owner Skaife has stepped right back from the day-to-day running of the team to concentrate on what he clearly does best: drive fast.
Skaifey’s out to prove he can still add a sixth title trophy to his collection and relieved of the burden of management, should avoid the maddening mistakes that characterised his driving last year.
The problem is, Skaife is a micro-manager and it remains to be seen whether he really can let go of HRT’s administrative reins. The influence of Walkinshaw, who has been negotiating to buy back just under half the team he was forced to sell in early ’03 because of the collapse of his TWR Group, is likely to protect him from himself.
Walkinshaw – who still owns HSV – has also taken management control of Holden Motorsport, which does ‘backroom’ development work, further increasing his influence on HRT, its main ‘client’. His hand has also been felt at back-to-back Bathurst 1000 winners Kmart Racing, which has been transformed into the HSV Dealer Team.
HSVDT’s livery is strikingly similar to HRT, emphasising the marketing – but not technical – tie-up between them as the main image-makers for HSV’s performance road car range.
HSVDT is just one of the several leading teams that have changed look and/or name during the off-season, not to mention reshuffled driver line-ups. There has been more ‘churn’ among the teams than ever before, with technical and support personnel also criss-crossing.
Back-to-back Bathurst co-winner Rick Kelly is joined at HSVDT by Garth Tander, replacing Kiwi star Greg Murphy. Murph, in turn, jumped ship to take over leadership of Super Cheap Auto Racing, which is a rebranding of PWR Racing, last year’s top-performing Holden squad.
The highest profile defection was Jason Bright’s move from PWR to Ford Performance Racing to replace struggling superstar Craig Lowndes, who lost patience after two fruitless years at FPR and switched to another UK-owned outfit, Triple Eight Racing.
As the Blue Oval’s factory backed operation, FPR is under a lot of pressure to finally perform and support SBR as a Falcon flag-carrier. There has been a big upheaval in the squad’s management, and both Ford and British-based team owner Prodrive are expecting – no, demanding – that Bright and also-new No.2 Greg Ritter get front-running equipment.
Triple Eight is equally under the microscope, bearing the responsibility of at last giving Lowndes a Falcon worthy of his talent. That has been wasted since his controversial defection from Holden to Ford in 2001, and as he settles into his fourth blue team in five seasons, all concerned are acutely aware that it’s fan-favourite Lowndes’ last chance to get back to being a consistent contender.
Also looking to raise their game among the Ford horde are Dick Johnson’s new-look Westpoint Racing – with veteran Glenn Seton joining Steve Johnson – and Team BOC (Brad Jones Racing), fresh from John Bowe’s and Jones’ storming weather-assisted 1-2 in one of the Australian Grand Prix support races, plus WPS Racing.
Back in the Lion’s den, Steven Richards – dubbed ‘The Accumulator’ last year – is out to add wins to his points-scoring consistency in his Team Perkins Racing Castrol Commodore and Garry Rogers Motorsport is looking to continue last year’s progress with race-winner Cameron McConville, joined by main game rookie Andrew Jones (the 2004 V8 Development Series champion and nephew of Brad Jones).
Along with all the changes among the teams, significant revisions to the qualifying procedure, the points-scoring system, the compulsory pit stops and the V8 judiciary will have a major impact on how the season unfolds.
Mark Fogarty is Editor-At-Large of Auto Action magazine and an internationally renowned motor sport journalist
Mark Fogarty
Release Date: 18/03/2005
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