Holdsworth comeback won’t be rushed, says Schwerkolt

It has already been confirmed that Holdsworth, who broke his pelvis and injured his right knee in a scary Lap 1 crash at Hidden Valley on Sunday, won’t be fit for the next round of the Supercars series in Townsville.

It is now expected that Karl Reindler, the team’s enduro driver who has been drafted in as Holdsworth’s replacement, will be in the car for both Townsville and the Queensland Raceway round a fortnight later.

And, should Holdsworth's recovery time require it, Reindler's stint in the car could include the Sydney Motorsport Park round at the end of August as well. 

“The deal with Karl is… definitely two rounds, but potentially even Sydney as well. I don’t know at this stage,” Team 18 boss Charlie Schwerkolt told Motorsport.com.

“Lee needs to recover properly, and not rush back so that he can drive to ten-tenths when he returns.”

Having Reindler able to step into the seat is the single positive from the entire situation, added Schwerkolt.

“Karl has put all his driving stuff aside; I rang him yesterday and he was at a ride day at Sydney Motorsport Park and doing driver training – he’s had to pull all that to one side,” said Schwerkolt.

“The only positive out of all this is that Karl is going to get some valuable miles in the car. He’ll be a fantastic co-driver for the enduros.

“We aren’t worried about winning the next three races, but we can look at podiums for Sandown, Bathurst, and the Gold Coast. That’s a positive. We’ll have a really good package for those enduros, I hope.”

Q&A with Charlie Schwerkolt

MOTORSPORT.COM: Obviously it’s been a tough few days for your team. How have the team members responded to it all?

CHARLIE SCHWERKOLT: They’ve really held on together, they’ve bonded well. It’s a tight group of people, there’s only 10 of us and everyone has glued pretty well.

The team got back [to Melbourne] from Darwin on Monday, had one day at home, and now four of them have gone back to the Gold Coast and off to Paul Morris’s place – crew chief Andy Adamson, team manager Jeff Grech, and our Number 1 and Number 2 mechanics.

They’re a strong team. They’re all chipping in and just getting on with it.

How is Lee holding up? I’m guessing no surgery is huge positive from his perspective.

Yes, that’s a big positive.

I spoke to Lee last night, and the most pain he’s in is his right knee. It’s his left hip, and right knee.
He had an operation on his knee four or five years ago and he’s banged that, which is causing some pain. They are doing some more scans on that today.

With his pelvis, they know where he’s at. It’s sort of a hairline crack, but bigger than a hairline. That will heal itself; it will probably take about four to six weeks before he’s off crutches, and then a little bit more healing. With the knee, we don’t quite know.

We’ll speed things up where we can with chambers and those sorts of things. He’s got some good doctors around him, they know what to do.

He’s already busting to get back in the car, and he’s gutted for the team and sponsors. But generally he’s in good spirits. He just wants to get going again.

Townsville is obviously out of the question, but what about beyond that? Is the deal with Karl open-ended?

The deal with Karl is… definitely two rounds, but potentially even Sydney as well. I don’t know.
Karl has put all his driving stuff aside; I rang him yesterday and he was at a ride day at Sydney Motorsport Park and doing driver training – he’s had to pull all that to one side.

Lee needs to recover properly, and not rush back so that he can drive to ten-tenths when he returns.

As I’ve said, the only positive out of all this is that Karl is going to get some valuable miles in the car. He’ll be a fantastic co-driver for the enduros.

We aren’t worried about winning the next three races, but we can look at podiums for Sandown, Bathurst, and the Gold Coast. That’s a positive. We’ll have a really good package for those enduros, I hope.