History for Walkinshaw
Supercars landscape set for revamp as Andretti buys stake
THE future of Australia’s greatest V8 team has been assured by a multimillion-dollar deal that brings another US racing giant on to the Australian Supercars scene.
Walkinshaw Racing has sold a multi-million stake in the iconic Aussie team to US heavyweight Andretti Racing to help resurrect the outfit formerly known as the Holden Racing Team as a V8 force.
Team owner Ryan Walkinshaw last night confirmed he would sell a non-controlling stake in the famous two-car team to Andretti Racing and another portion of the business to McLaren Group heavy hitter Zak Brown.
US legend Michael Andretti – owner of Andretti Racing – will bring NASCAR racing technology to Australia in a bid to bring down his American Indy rival, US billionaire Roger Penske, on Australian circuits like Mount Panorama.
“We have been looking for a strategic partner for the past 12 months,’’ Walkinshaw said.
“We had an introduction to Michael and it very quickly made a lot of sense. Zak then came on board to make it a truly international partnership. This is going to be a game changer.’’
In his first interview as a Supercars team owner, Andretti – a CART racing legend and former Formula One driver – declared he would return Walkinshaw Racing to their glory days after Holden stripped it of factory backing and the famous Holden Racing Team name.
“I am in the business of racing and we are constantly looking for opportunities. This was a fantastic opportunity,’’ said Andretti, who has his eyes on instant success Down Under.
“For sure. We can do that and we have a lot of ideas already. There are things that we can do that will certainly help. We are coming here to win. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.’’
The son of legend Marco Andretti said he would deliver state-of-the-art NASCAR technology to the series in a no-expenses-spared bid to send Walkinshaw Racing to the top of the V8 pile.
“We are going to be hands on,’’ Andretti said.
“We have our technical director down here already and he has a lot of experience in NASCAR. He has a ton of ideas. He only left NASCAR last year and he is the guy that is responsible for turning one of the big teams around.”