Despite battling his worst round of the year, remarkably still containing a top five and a top ten finish, Brett Holdsworth has jumped to his target of third in the Turtle Wax Trans Am standings with just one round to go.
Holdsworth entered the round 31 points away from third, which has been the season long target for his campaign aboard the Breeze Holiday Parks Chevrolet Camaro. In 2022 Holdsworth had been the poster boy for consistency, finishing no lower than ninth all year long.
The penultimate round of the Championship started relatively well for the #99 driver, with Holdsworth confident in the car after Friday practice. However, early morning qualifying on a wet track provided substantially different conditions and a small mistake on his final lap left Holdsworth ninth on the starting grid for race one.
The opening race of the weekend perfectly characterised Holdsworth’s year, as he kept his nose clean and dodged the drama in front and rose up to finish in fourth.
After getting jumped off the start in race two, Holdsworth logged the fastest lap of the race on his way back forward before his first notable incident of the year, dropped him outside the top 20. A quick charge in the remaining laps allowed Holdsworth to finish 16th and earn himself enough points for 10th on the grid in race three.
The weekend’s final race saw Holdsworth start and finish in 10th as he drove with his goals in mind, knowing that thanks to some chaos behind he stood to vault himself up in the overall points.
“Luck went our way in the end, but I can’t discredit the car speed we had,” said Holdsworth.
“I believe we had a top three car at the end of the day, but I didn’t put myself in the right positions to capitalise on that. I tripped over myself in race two, we would have been on target for a podium based off our early speed in that one.
“It’s great obviously that we’re now third in the Championship, but I don’t want to take home the trophy at the end of the year without standing on the podium at any point. We had the third place in race on in Sydney, but our best overall round result so far is fourth.
“The Ashley Seward Motorsport crew have given me a really great car every round so I know I’ll have the car underneath me to be fast in Sandown.”
Conversely to those around him in the Championship Holdsworth hasn’t tested his car between rounds at any points this season, a fact he’s prepared to change in pursuit of a season-best weekend at the Championship finale.
“I think there’s a good chance I do some laps around the track before that weekend. Fortunately it’s almost in the backyard of the ASM workshop, so logistically it’s not a huge effort to get the car out there. There’s nothing planned yet but it will probably be a good idea to do a test day and give ourselves a leg up for the finale,” concluded Holdsworth.
The final round of Turtle Wax Tans Am for 2022 takes place from September 16-18 at Sandown Raceway.
Championship Standings
1. Nathan Herne – 912
2. Owen Kelly – 893
3. Brett Holdsworth – 827
4. Kyle Gurton – 796
5. Tim Brook – 779
6. Jon McCorkindale – 777
7. Hugh McAlister – 720
8. Ben Grice – 706
9. Edan Thornburrow – 704
10. Chris Pappas – 703
Good stuff mate, you’d be better to have a few laps before hand and see what it’s like. You a hero in our house either way Brett.. have fun and injoy yourself