Brett Holdsworth has been left to wonder what could have been, after a potentially championship defining weekend was cut short by a DNF in race three of the second round in Trans Am.
The Breeze Holiday Parks driver had jumped to second in the championship heading into the final race of the weekend, but a broken universal joint on lap five forced Holdsworth out of the race. As a result, the Ashley Seward Motorsport prepared entry has slipped to 10th in the points standings.
Round two of the championship started positively for Holdsworth, who equalled his best qualifying performance with third place. The opening race saw the #99 struggle to find the right tyre pressures, leading to a defensive drive that netted Holdsworth a third-place finish. In the second race of the weekend Holdsworth slipped back to fifth on the opening lap and struggled for overall grip and drive, going on to finish in sixth place.
Holdsworth was on the tail of the leading battle entering lap five in the final race of the weekend, but lost all drive when exiting turn two, with the team later discovering the Universal Joint had snapped. The DNF result means Holdsworth earned zero points for race three, a fact made worse by the extra points on offer in the last race of each weekend. Race wins are awarded 60 points in races one and two, with race three carrying an 80-point reward for the winner.
“That result is devastating to be honest,” said Holdsworth.
“It’s the first time we’ve failed to finish a race since I joined Ash (Seward) at the start of 2022. Pretty much all of the other championship contenders had trouble in the first two races and we’d vaulted into second in the standings, we just needed to finish that last race and we’d have been at least third in the points heading to Winton.
“The weekend certainly wasn’t a write off though, I feel like we’ve really nailed our qualifying speed which is half the battle. If we can iron out why we’re struggling in the first couple of laps in each race, then we’ll be in a very good place for the rest of the year. We actually had the fastest car on combined sector times in that opening race, so the pace is definitely there.
“Winton is a completely different track to Phillip Island, we’ll see if that shakes up the order at all,” concluded Holdsworth.
Round three of Trans Am takes place at Winton Raceway from June 9-11.