18 replies to this topic

[hoon69]

Its official

http://www.holdenmotorsport.com/defa...splay&id=67298

Reigning V8 Supercar and three-time Bathurst 1000 Champions, TeamVodafone, and its drivers, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup, will race Holden Commodores from 2010.

Holden Executive Director Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, Alan Batey made the announcement at a press conference held at GM Holden headquarters in Melbourne today.

“Holden has a long and proud history in motorsport that stretches back over 40 years and today’s announcement is an exciting step into the next chapter,” Mr Batey said.

“Our commitment and passion for motorsport has not waived.

"Today we are making a clear statement on how much we value this sport which is also a very smart, responsible sponsorship decision.

“We are very excited about working with TeamVodafone and are thrilled to welcome back both Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup to the Holden family.”

TeamVodafone was formed out of the UK-based Triple Eight Race Engineering, winning multiple British Touring Car Championships with the factory GM Vauxhall team.

In its five short years in the V8 Supercar Championship Series, TeamVodafone has evolved from series debutants into the category powerhouse.

From 2004 to the end of last season, TeamVodafone had scored 12 pole positions, won 24 championship rounds and 38 individual race victories, including three straight Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 titles and the 2008 V8 Supercar Driver and Teams Championships.

In 2009, TeamVodafone has continued its impressive run scoring three pole positions, winning nine out of 12 races year to date and again leading both the Driver and Teams Championships after six of 14 Championship events.

“We are delighted to join the Holden family,” TeamVodafone Managing Director, Roland Dane said.

“Triple Eight Race Engineering started running with General Motors in the UK, winning many races and Championships, and it was only an anomaly due to circumstances that we did not race Holdens when we began in V8 Supercars.

“I have always wanted to put that right when the opportunity arose, which it now has.”

Dane said its association with GM was quite emotional.

“Although our relationship with GM in Europe is due to end, again due to circumstances, we recognise that we would not have got to where we are without them.

“It is an emotive topic for Triple Eight and we feel that as we have ‘grown’ with GM that we should continue to ‘live’ together with them, here with Holden.”

Last week Dane confirmed that the team had re-signed with major naming rights sponsor Vodafone for another three years, and that Lowndes and Whincup would also be with the team through to the end of the 2012 season.

Reigning V8 Supercar Champion Jamie Whincup said he was excited by the prospect of returning to Holden.

“Personally, I am very excited, I started my V8 Supercar career in Holden teams and didn’t quite get the results I wanted so now I have the chance to rectify that,” Whincup said.

“Triple Eight is a cohesive and dedicated team and I am very confident that we can continue to record similar results when we climb aboard our new Commodores to start the 2010 season.

“I look forward to working with Holden and hope that we can shoot for further championship success together.”

The V8 Supercar Championship Series is Australia’s premier motor racing category, the category racing in front of approximately 1.5 million people over the course of a 15 event season with a cumulative national television audience of approximately 20 million.

After seven events on the 2009 calendar attendances are up over seven per cent on last year, with over 168,000 attending the inaugural Dunlop Townsville 400 recently – TV audiences up 11 per cent over the corresponding round in 2008

[hoon69]

TeamVodafone moves to Holden

Wednesday 29/07/2009 11:30

Author: Briar Gunther | Source: BigPond Sport - copyright

Holden has re-affirmed its commitment to Australian motorsport with the news that it has taken on TeamVodafone into its V8 Supercar stable.

TeamVodafone Principle, Roland Dane, and driver Jamie Whincup, the reigning V8 Supercar champ, attended the announcement at Fishermen's Bend in Melbourne today.

Whincup drove an SS Commodore plastered with Vodafone stickers into the showroom as part of the announcement but teammate Craig Lowndes, who is contracted with Ford until the end of the year, did not attend.

[likwid_dzign]

This is what happens when you pull virtually all of your factory backing from the sport. The blue oval has just lost their one team that is dominating the red men, Good job Ford!

[581 ESP]

your seeing it all wrong.. the only way holden could win is to buy the winning team....

[NAZE77]

your seeing it all wrong.. the only way holden could win is to buy the winning team....

LOL... GOLD!!!

[likwid_dzign]

Holden and Ford mean nothing mechanically anymore, but financially mean everything now. They're giving up their one strength in the sport. That's why it's a bad move for Ford... EPIC FAIL! LOL!

[kitamijin]

Welcome home Lowndes. Serves Ford right for taking away their backing. Yeah.............

[hoon69]

TeamVodafone’s decision to run Holden Commodores next year will tip the balance of the V8 Supercar field to two thirds red versus one third blue.

While Holden fans are rejoicing at the thought of Craig Lowndes returning to the Holden fold, Ford fans are bracing for a Holden onslaught next year with the news that Lowndes and reigning champ Jamie Whincup will drive Commodores from 2010.

The news was made official at Holden’s premises at Port Melbourne today (Wednesday).

With TeamVodafone Principle Roland Dane in the passenger seat, Whincup drove an SS Commodore featuring Vodafone stickers into the Holden showroom as part of the announcement.

Despite winning the driver and team championships along with a third straight Bathurst win, TeamVodafone lost its sponsorship from Ford at the end of last year.

This year the team has run FG Falcons, but with no Ford branding on them and the team officially recognises the #1 and #888 cars as ‘Hogsters’.

Lowndes, who left the Holden stable to drive for Ford-backed 00 Motorsport in 2001 and still has a personal contract with Ford until the end of this year, did not attend today’s announcement.

Dane said that, like Lowndes and Whincup – who last drove for Holden in 2005 – it felt like he was returning home.

“There’s big connections for Triple Eight and General Motors that goes back to 1996 when along with Ian Harrison and Derek Warwick I did the deal with Vauxhall Motors, which is part of GM Europe, and that’s a relationship that’s worked well for many years and won lots of championships, so for me, this is also coming home,” he said.

TeamVodafone’s move will see 20 Holden Commodores line up against a paltry 10 Ford Falcons on the V8 Supercar grid.

Alan Batey, who takes up his position as Holden’s new Chairman and Managing Director on September 1, said while the global financial crises had impacted on Holden, the company was still fully committed to motorsport.

“We’ve had to take some tough decisions… however we will not, and I repeat, we will not turn our back on our heritage and all of the things that have made Holden great,” he said.

“Motorsport is and will always remain an important part of our DNA and our involvement goes back over 40 years.

“Today we are making the biggest and the clearest statement we can on how much we at Holden, everyone here, values winning and maximising the power of the Holden brand.”

The new partnership with Triple Eight and Holden could hold ominous news for Jim Beam Racing and Wilson Security Racing, which are not Ford-backed teams but run Triple Eight-built FGs.

“We already supply parts and components to every team in the Championship apart from two,” Dane countered.

“We supply HRT with parts now so that’s a part of our engineering business and that will continue to supply parts. Our development hours and efforts will be into Holden.”

Dane and his team look forward to the challenge of producing competitive Commodores straight away.

“For us part of the attraction of this deal is the challenge to show that hopefully we can produce a competitive package straight away next year,” Dane said.

“It’s another challenge and certainly from a technical point of view with the technical team I have got in Brisbane it was something they were very gung-ho about when I first brought it up with the lead guys there.”

But Holden Racing Team diehards should not get wound up at the thought of their team playing second fiddle to TeamVodafone.

“HRT is our factory operation; we’re a supporter of TeamVodafone,” Holden Motorsport Manager, Simon McNamara, stressed.

“At the end of the day we want a Commodore to win races, but HRT is our factory operation.”

McNamara would not say whether Holden will now pare back its support of other teams like Kelly Racing and Supercheap Auto Racing.

“That is yet to be determined,” he said.

“We wanted to lock this away as early as we could and the rest of it goes down the path of further discussions.”

[AzzA]

lol.. even whincup used to race holdens before

[xdclevo]

Holden and Ford mean nothing mechanically anymore,

The Fords just have the best motors, which when you're winning means everything.. haha
Are the Fords still running the povo Cleveland alloy heads?

[jlord16]

your seeing it all wrong.. the only way holden could win is to buy the winning team....

LOL

[hoon69]

Proud we went for Holden

LET me say right from the start that I fully support TeamVodafone's decision to race Holdens next year.
I am proud to say that I will be associated with the Australian icon.

However, ever since we announced the decision today, I have been bombarded with questions, especially on my website.

I could be very weak and say it's got nothing to do with me, but I honestly fully support the team with what they've done.

I personally think there are three different types of fans.

First, we have had a huge response from the Holden fans who think it's fantastic news and are welcoming us on board.

Then you have the driver and team fans who are also in favour of the decision. They see the partnership as a good one that will allow us to deliver results.

Then we have the hard-core Ford fans who are bitterly disappointed with what's happened.

I've been getting this massive abuse from all these Ford people asking why I'm not loyal to the brand, but how can you be?

I don't feel any loyalty to Ford because they showed none to me.

Once you become a bit abusive for changing manufacturers it think it's important that these people look at the facts before they get too vocal.

The fact is that at the moment we don't have any manufacturer support.

At the end of 2008 when I won my first championship I personally approached Ford and pleaded with them to come up with some type of arrangement where they could use my win to get some good publicity.

While I tried for many months to reach agreement they chose to walk away.

They weren't interested in doing anything with myself or the team.

I tried my best to align myself to them and they showed me no loyalty whatsoever.

Therefore when the opportunity came up with Holden - which they embraced with open arms - straight up it was a great decision.

The Holden product is a fantastic product and TeamVodafone builds a fantastic race car and combined they will be a powerful combination.

It's a great step forward and it's also a nostalgic step backwards for me because I started with a Holden in 2003.

I didn't enjoy the success I wanted with them, but this now gives me the opportunity to get the Red Lion over the line.

Everyone knows what a big fan I am of Valentino Rossi who won world motorcycle championships with Honda and then moved to Yamaha and won again.

Well, I hope I can do a Rossi and win with Holden, too. No one has ever won championships with Holden and Ford, so with myself having achieved most of my goals in V8s this offers brand new goals and challenges.

But first I have to focus on the remainder of this year, starting with the big job I've got ahead of me this weekend at Sandown.

If I thought this announcement would have affected my performance I wouldn't have been involved.

So after this announcement all will be forgotten until the end of the year. It will be business as usual tomorrow.

I'll go home and do my normal preparation, look at video from last year, go over the data and immerse myself on focusing on getting the car the fastest around the track.

Edited by hoon69, 29 July 2009 - 08:16 PM.

[581 ESP]

I wonder if DJR and Willson Sercuirity will change to holden seeing as they wont be able to get there bodies form 888 anymore......

May as well make it NASCAR and have a one make feild..

[hoon69]

As long time supporters of Ford, we thought you should hear directly from us about today’s announcement that the Triple 8 race team and its drivers, including Craig Lowndes, will be racing Holdens next year. There is a lot of speculation and some negative commentary around about the decision so I’m giving you the facts.

Firstly, we sponsored Triple 8 to the tune of millions of dollars for a number of years. We honoured every single aspect of our sponsorship arrangement with them and in return, we asked for one thing – that they respect our brand by painting their cars blue. This wasn’t just a simple request, it was written into their contracts over a number of years – and each year Triple 8 chose to defy that contractual obligation and paint their cars red. That may seem relatively minor to you but it’s not to us. We’re running a business at Ford and investing millions of dollars in supporting motorsport. If someone continues to take large sums of money from us every year while continuing to blatantly defy the obligations they’ve agreed to in order to obtain that money, then we have no choice but to end that arrangement.

Make no mistake – Triple 8 was given every opportunity to live up to the contractual arrangements they agreed to. Eventually we said enough – as any responsible company would do. I make no apologies for doing that. It’s not just about the cars being painted blue, it’s about whether or not we have an open and trusting relationship with an organisation that significantly benefits from their involvement with us. That wasn’t there and, in the market environment we’ve been facing over the last few years, we simply cannot afford to continue giving money to a team that does not respect our brand.

Secondly, we are hugely disappointed that Craig Lowndes will be returning to Holden at the end of this year. We’re disappointed because he’s a great talent and we’re disappointed because we have gone out of our way to welcome Craig into the Ford family since he moved to us in 2001. We’re also disappointed because we found out this was happening on Tuesday evening. Our sponsorship of Craig has benefited him to the tune of millions of dollars since 2001 and I have yet to receive a phone call from Craig himself telling me of his decision to re-sign with Triple 8 and subsequently return to Holden. We had every intention of continuing our relationship with Craig into next year but this is now not possible.

We continue to support motorsport in Australia through our direct sponsorship of FPR and SBR and we also continue to provide significant in-kind support to other teams such as DJR. Motorsport continues to be a useful tool for us to communicate our brand promise to our customers. You can rest assured that we will continue to be involved in motorsport in Australia in the future and will do what we can to leverage our successes.

Thanks for your ongoing passion and interest in Ford.

[kitamijin]

As long time supporters of Ford, we thought you should hear directly from us about today's announcement that the Triple 8 race team and its drivers, including Craig Lowndes, will be racing Holdens next year. There is a lot of speculation and some negative commentary around about the decision so I'm giving you the facts.

Firstly, we sponsored Triple 8 to the tune of millions of dollars for a number of years. We honoured every single aspect of our sponsorship arrangement with them and in return, we asked for one thing – that they respect our brand by painting their cars blue. This wasn't just a simple request, it was written into their contracts over a number of years – and each year Triple 8 chose to defy that contractual obligation and paint their cars red. That may seem relatively minor to you but it's not to us. We're running a business at Ford and investing millions of dollars in supporting motorsport. If someone continues to take large sums of money from us every year while continuing to blatantly defy the obligations they've agreed to in order to obtain that money, then we have no choice but to end that arrangement.

Make no mistake – Triple 8 was given every opportunity to live up to the contractual arrangements they agreed to. Eventually we said enough – as any responsible company would do. I make no apologies for doing that. It's not just about the cars being painted blue, it's about whether or not we have an open and trusting relationship with an organisation that significantly benefits from their involvement with us. That wasn't there and, in the market environment we've been facing over the last few years, we simply cannot afford to continue giving money to a team that does not respect our brand.

Secondly, we are hugely disappointed that Craig Lowndes will be returning to Holden at the end of this year. We're disappointed because he's a great talent and we're disappointed because we have gone out of our way to welcome Craig into the Ford family since he moved to us in 2001. We're also disappointed because we found out this was happening on Tuesday evening. Our sponsorship of Craig has benefited him to the tune of millions of dollars since 2001 and I have yet to receive a phone call from Craig himself telling me of his decision to re-sign with Triple 8 and subsequently return to Holden. We had every intention of continuing our relationship with Craig into next year but this is now not possible.

We continue to support motorsport in Australia through our direct sponsorship of FPR and SBR and we also continue to provide significant in-kind support to other teams such as DJR. Motorsport continues to be a useful tool for us to communicate our brand promise to our customers. You can rest assured that we will continue to be involved in motorsport in Australia in the future and will do what we can to leverage our successes.

Thanks for your ongoing passion and interest in Ford.

Might help to let everyone know who wrote this? Plagiarism mate.

[2JZZZZ]

someone who needs a box of tissues

[likwid_dzign]

Their sponsored by Vodafone... LOL! Not painted blue, of course they wouldn't colour them blue. Vodafone are RED. Why do they paint their road cars red then?! Seriously, that is pretty weak. DJR definately aren't blue. HRT aren't really red anymore, they're primarily white. And to throw such a big contract away over realistically a minor issue, is damaging given the stake they have in the sport.
I stand by my statement - Good job Ford

[protd]

djr are not sponsored by ford, well not last time i heard, djr got the shaft by ford years ago..

as for that email going around there is more to it than just colour..

good riddance to Jamie and lowndes..

Craig is done anyway, i don't think he can win a championship again, maybe a bathurst as a co driver..

and as for jamie his best time is now, 2 years and he'll be another burnout like skaife..

personally i think ford let them go at the right time they have peaked as a team, the rest will catch them just as stone brothers caught hrt and just as triple 8 caught stone brothers and hrt, times change..

personally if things keep going the way they are i see FPV being the next triple 8

[Falconxf88]

In the market environment we've been facing over the last few years, we simply cannot afford to continue giving money to a team that does not respect our brand.

Ide call that fair.

If i was an employer and told a worker to do something and they never did it, then i came upon financial hardship... that worker would get the ass.