Walkinshaw/Schwerkolt confirm split
Walkinshaw Racing will scale back from four cars to two next season, with confirmation that Charlie Schwerkolt will take his Racing Entitlements Contract elswhere.
Lee Holdsworth, Walkinshaw Racing Holden
Herb Powell
The Clayton-based squad has run four cars this season, the two Holden Racing Team cars joined by Schwerkolt’s Team 18 entry and the #47 Supercheap Auto-backed car.
But it will just be the two red cars next season, with the #47 REC sold to Super Black Racing, and Schwerkolt set to take his licence and driver Lee Holdsworth somewhere else.
“There have been a couple of rumours around the place. I can confirm now that it is going to happen at the end of the year,” said Schwerkolt.
“They’ve decided to go from a four car team, to a three-car team, to now a two-car team to focus on the two red cars.”
Where exactly the Team 18 REC and driver will land for 2016 is not yet known, Schwerkolt saying only that he is looking at a number of options.
“It all happened pretty late obviously. I’m looking at all my options; it could be a single-car team, it could be all sorts of stuff.
“There are lots of plans in place. Lee is pumped, we’ve got some good ideas and good stuff going on.”
Focus back on HRT
According to team boss Ryan Walkinshaw, the decision to scale back to just the two factory Holdens has been made in an effort to “rejuvenate” HRT.
“Over the course of the year Walkinshaw Racing have been looking at going back to two cars and we’ve had ambitions to put a rejuvenated focus on the Holden Racing Team,” he said.
“We want to put 100 per cent of our resources, time and effort into the red cars and we want to ensure the team gets back to winning championships and winning Bathurst.
“The relationship with Charlie has been fantastic, we’ve had a great season together and we leave on very good terms which is great.
“We wish Charlie all the best going forward and we will be doing everything we can to assist him with his new venture.
“There are other projects within the Walkinshaw group that are developing and we will endeavour to produce the best outcome for the whole business.
“We are a large group, we are growing at a rapid pace off the race track and we will be doing everything we can to look after as many people as possible.”
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