V8 superpower swaps sides, sending Lowndes back to Holden
THE most successful team in V8 Supercars racing will make the biggest backflip since Craig Lowndes defected from Holden to Ford in 2001.
Triple Eight Racing will become a Holden team in 2010 today (Wednesday), joining the Holden Racing Team as one of the company's two official racing arms in a deal worth at least $3 million.
Ironically, the move will put Lowndes back in a Holden Commodore.
A three-year deal will be confirmed at 11am today in Melbourne, although no one at Holden or Triple Eight was prepared to discuss the details yesterday.
"No comment at the moment. Try me again later tomorrow," Roland Dane, the owner of Triple Eight and pit lane general for TeamVodafone, said yesterday.
Holden motor sport manager Simon McNamara would not return calls, although there has been open discussion inside the company since the start of the year about a plan to get the company back in the winner's circle. "We do not like to lose," one senior manager said.
The Triple Eight defection comes after the team was sacked by Ford at the end of last year, partly because the TeamVodafone racing colours were considered too close to Holden's red and too far away from the Ford corporation's blue oval.
Ford switched all of its funding to two teams, Ford Performance Racing and Stone Brothers Racing, which have failed to win in 2009.
Dane retaliated by removing all Ford badges from the Falcons raced by Lowndes and V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup, replacing the one in the grille with a Hog's Breath Cafe logo.
But he still pushed ahead with development and construction of new FG Falcons for TeamVodafone, as well as Triple Eight's customers, Dick Johnson and Paul Cruickshank.
How the Holden switch will affect those deals is not clear.
The timing of the move to Holden has been made easier because Lowndes' personal contract with Ford ends at the end of this year.
Direct manufacturer deals with V8 Supercars drivers are banned but his was allowed to run its course, forcing Triple Eight to field him in a Falcon this year.
Triple Eight's move to Holden is, in some ways, a homecoming. Its British division has run the official touring car team for Vauxhall -- the equivalent of GM Holden -- for many years and the new head of Holden, Alan Batey, is a former Vauxhall employee.
The signing of Triple Eight will not have a significant impact on the Holden Racing Team, although it could take a funding cut.
But other teams in the red camp, including Kelly Racing and Garry Rogers' Valvoline team, could have their support trimmed or ended.
HRT is moving towards a renewal of its long-term deal with Holden, which is tied to its relationship with Holden Special Vehicles, with an announcement likely as early as next week.
"We hope to have some good news on that in the next couple of weeks," a Holden spokesman said. "Holden has a great history with the team and it is the factory team."
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