Brace for Supercars change

Team boss to meet General Motors over Holden axing

MOTORSPORT: Red Bull Holden Racing Team boss Roland Dane is confident the death of the traditional Holden versus Ford rivalry will not spell doom for Supercars, as he plots his squad’s future in the series.

After the shock revelation the Holden brand was being killed off, the Triple Eight owner said yesterday he would meet with General Motors this week about his team’s future with the company.

Dane would not speculate on what Holden’s demise meant for his team or what model it would be racing next year, but said Supercars fans needed to brace for change.

The Holden versus Ford rivalry has been at the heart of the series for decades but Dane believes the series will evolve and does not expect support to suffer.

“Not if we, collectively as the category, do our homework properly,” he said.

“I think we can still provide the excitement and the show that people have come to expect over many years.

“Unfortunately, one of the issues is that people who have been barracking for the Holden brand over the last 10 years or so haven’t actually been buying the product.

“It’s a fact of life that a lot of people have actually been turning up to the races in other brands. It’s something we are all very aware of.

“Times change and we have got to change with them.”

Holden’s official factory-backed squad since 2017, Triple Eight has a deal in place with Holden until the end of 2021.

“I’m meeting with GM this week and we’ll discuss what happens,” Dane said at the Supercars test day at Tailem Bend in South Australia.

“But until then, there is nothing more to be said, really, it’s a discussion between me and them. I’m not going to speculate on what we’re doing next season at the moment.”

GM made the shock announcement on Monday that the Holden brand would cease to exist at the end of the year, dropping a bombshell on Supercars on the eve of the season-opening race in Adelaide this weekend.