HRT: New look for HRT at Sandown
8/9/2003 13:00 (Press Release) -
It will be a different looking Holden Racing Team at Sandown International Raceway this weekend, with HRT's two VY Commodores displaying a different bonnet livery for Sunday's Betta Electrical 500!
To coincide with Mobil's launch of the new 'Mobil 1 with SuperSyn' synthetic lubricant, the bonnets of the Skaife/Todd Kelly #1 VY and the Jim Richards/Tony Longhurst #2 Commodore have been altered to reflect Mobil's marketing 'push' for the new product.
Mobil has enjoyed a long-standing and loyal relationship with HRT, as a major sponsor of the team since 1994. Mobil is proud to use the race car to showcase how Mobil 1 with SuperSyn delivers unsurpassed engine-wear protection, all-temperature durability and promotes exceptional engine cleanliness.
The SuperSyn anti-wear system was developed in Formula One racing, where engines are subjected to extreme stresses. But, whilst new SuperSyn has been proven in motor racing, every day motorists are also able to benefit from its superior anti-wear properties and better engine protection in every day driving. New Mobil 1 with SuperSyn is not just an oil for performance cars, but a performance oil for all cars.
The Mobil 1 difference was a key factor in Mark Skaife and Jim Richard's Bathurst win last year, after debris filled the radiator intakes, causing the engine temperature to rise alarmingly. Despite the 'off-the-clock' readings, the Mobil 1 SuperSyn formula protected the engine in the #1 HRT Commodore over those vital last few laps.
All aspects of a V8 Supercar will be tested at Sandown this weekend with the return of the 500km/161-lap format in the Betta Electrical 500.
The 'traditional' 500 as a warm-up event to the annual 1000km race at Bathurst each October ceased in 1998, with Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall winning then in appalling conditions in their Commodore.
The Holden Racing Team has won the 500km enduro twice, with Craig Lowndes and Greg Murphy taking the consecutive chequered flags in 1996 and 1997.
This year, Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly will share duties in the #1 HRT VY Commodore, with the highly experienced Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst piloting the #2 car. The pair drove a BMW to victory in 1985, while Richards and Skaife won in a Nissan in 1989.
"The race has a lot of history and as well as being a good 'tune-up' for Bathurst, it's great race in its own right," Skaife said this week. "With Todd and I together in HRT's latest-spec Commodore, we stand as good a chance as anyone to win.
"There's no denying it's been a tough year so far as we've worked to develop the VY Commodore with the technical changes brought about by Project Blueprint. However we're not that far off the pace and I think that with the full endurance format, well-matched co-drivers, good pit work and team strategy will play as much part in winning as outright speed," said Skaife.
Skaife's partner Todd Kelly scored his maiden V8 Supercar round win at Sandown in 2001 and would love to add his name to the list of past winners of the '500'.
"It might be a 500k enduro but I can see it being virtually a sprint from the moment the start lights go out. The opportunity to partner Mark [Skaife] whose record in Australian touring cars is fantastic, gives me a great chance of success," Kelly pointed out.
The chances of Richards and Longhurst shouldn't be discounted either! Richards won with Skaife at Bathurst last year and Longhurst with Skaife the year before and the lap times in recent testing indicate that the pair will lose nothing in race pace to the top contenders.
"The good thing for Tony and I about being with HRT," Jim Richards said this week, "is the level of equipment is the best it can be and, with Mark and Todd's development abilities, Tony and I know we can get in the car and it will on the pace pretty much straight away."
Tony Longhurst has not raced this year but says his experience will allow him to quickly get up to speed in the #2 HRT VY Commodore.
"Although Jimmy and I have only had a couple of test days, we've been lucky in that HRT has been able to give us miles in their PR2 rides car at sponsor days a couple of times through the year.
"While it's not a V8 Supercar, it's close enough to assist in getting back up to 'track speed' as it were and, I was pleased that I felt comfortable and at race pace within a handful of laps.
"With Jimmy and I, we're hopeful that a couple of 'wise heads' can prevail and, we can be somewhere around the pointy end after 161 laps," Longhurst said.
As mentioned, the Betta Electrical 500 is over 500kms and 161 laps, with the race featuring two compulsory pit stops for fuel and at one of those stops (between lap 48 and lap 120) the front brake pads must be changed.
Expect the top teams to complete a 120-litre fuel fill, four wheels and tyres and the pad change, all in around 28 seconds!
--Holden Racing Team press release
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