Brett Holdsworth has been left devastated after being taken out on the final lap of the Trans Am 100 following a near perfect weekend in the Breeze Holiday Parks Camaro.
The Trans Am 100 was a non-points event to conclude the Trans Am season, featuring a 100KM finale following two ‘heat’ races on Saturday. After Holdsworth wrapped up third in the 2022 championship, he took an unreserved approach to the special event that saw him record his best results of the year.
Holdsworth was immediately fast out of the gates with the Ashley Seward Motorsport prepared Camaro sitting inside the top three for all of practice one and two, even spending considerable time fastest in the field. In Qualifying Holdsworth earned third on the grid, delivering a late flying lap under pressure after an early red flag halted the session before he could set a representative time.
In race one Holdsworth was boxed out on the opening lap and dropped to fourth. With superior car speed Holdsworth moved back to third and then piled the pressure on Owen Kelly but could not find a clean way past for second. The result was just Holdsworth’s second podium of the year. Race two saw Holdsworth again apply the pressure, this time finding a way past before setting the fastest lap of the race to that point and finishing second – his best result of the year.
The third and final race was the Trans Am 100. Holdsworth settled into second early on and looked comfortable as he stayed in touch with the race leader, trading lap times with each other until a mid-race safety car made an appearance. Following the restart Holdsworth was under immense pressure from Kelly and Ben Grice for second place for close to 10 laps, but did not put a foot wrong. On the final lap Kelly and Grice both dived to the inside line which was covered off by Holdsworth at Forrest’s Elbow, resulting in contact that sent the #99 spinning off the podium.
The incident saw Kelly immediately slapped with a penalty, which was then rescinded by the stewards, leaving Holdsworth devastated and feeling robbed.
“I’ve never driven so hard in my life, I brushed the wall four times over the top of the mountain and left absolutely nothing on the table. To come away with nothing but a hefty repair bill is devastating,” said Holdsworth.
“The last three laps I took the same line into Forrest’s Elbow so Kelly should have known where I was going to place the car on the final lap. It’s disappointing, I race everyone with the utmost respect so to be taken out like that leaves a pretty sour taste. He was either trying to bump and run and it went wrong or he just made a mistake, either way he hasn’t apologised which is annoying.
“As soon as we rolled out of the box this weekend we were top two, top three at worst, pace. Ashley Seward and the crew did an amazing job preparing the car. We had pace all weekend and I felt more switched on than ever.
“It was an awful way to end the weekend but the positive is that it was some of the most enjoyable laps I’ve ever had at Bathurst. Every time I gave the wall a little hit it just felt awesome because I knew I was on the limit.
“We did 29 racing laps, pretty much all inside the top three, we just needed to hang on for another half a lap.”
Holdsworth will take the confidence gained from his speed at Bathurst into the 2023 season, where he will return to the Trans Am field. A full announcement regarding his team and sponsors will come in early 2023.
What more can you say robbed is an understatment well done brett and ashley seward racing i look forward to seeing how you go next year