Brett Holdsworth has joined the rostrum once again in Trans Am with his second third place finish of the year, coming at Sandown for round five of the season.
The Breeze Holiday Parks Camaro was strong in practice, posting the third and fourth fastest times across the two sessions on Friday. Qualifying followed shortly after, but a red flag as Holdsworth ramped up for his second run limited the performance of the #99 to eighth on the grid. That is where Holdsworth would finish the first race, as he battled a damaged tyre after early contact.
In race two, Holdsworth used all of his experience as he rose up the order and quickly into the top five. Smart driving after contact up ahead then allowed Holdsworth to rise up to third where he heaped the pressure on for second. The Ashley Seward Motorsport driver crossed the line in third to grab his second podium finish for 2023.
The damaged tyre from race one came back to hurt Holdsworth in race three, where teams traditionally use their two extra tyres for the longer final race. With only one tyre available, Holdsworth didn’t have the grip of those around him. After vaulting to second on the opening lap, a valiant defensive drive to hold on for fourth came unstuck when Holdsworth was squeezed over the kerbs, resulting in contact and a drive through penalty. Despite the time lost, the Breeze Holiday Parks Camaro still crossed the line in seventh place.
The three top 10 finishes earned Holdsworth enough points to continue his rise back up the points table, moving to sixth position and just 25 points away from the third place where he finished the 2022 season.
“It’s always exciting to get a podium, but there’s still a lot of desire to be even better and get up on the round podium which has so far eluded us,” said Holdsworth
“The story is similar to what we’ve had all year, Phillip Island aside, where we haven’t got qualifying right and that has left us playing catchup all round. Being back in that group cost us more than the obvious track position as well, a lot of contact on the opening few laps really damaged one of our tyres and having to replace that before we got to race three hampered both ends of our weekend.
“The car was phenomenal in race two, we had a lot of pace and there was definitely a second place on the cards if we had started further forward. It was still strong in the final race, but with just one fresh tyre I didn’t have the turn that I needed to keep some of the others behind. The penalty felt a little rushed, I certainly didn’t feel I could have prevented that contact after I was squeezed on to the kerbs. Once I got up there the car just bounced straight ahead.
“No positions were changed as a result of the touch, so it definitely could have waited until post-race where it could have been investigated further. Unfortunately, with a drive through there’s no second look at it after the fact, it’s not like a time penalty where the time can be adjusted.
“Oddly enough despite the tricky year we’ve had, we are clawing our way back to that third place in the championship which is where we want to be. If we can qualify well at Eastern Creek and Bathurst then we’ll absolutely be a top three car in the races, and we can go trophy hunting,” concluded Holdsworth.
Trans Am returns on November 3-4 at Sydney Motorsport Park, as the first part of a doubleheader with the Bathurst International from November 10-12.