MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Holden has confirmed that its commitment to Australia’s Supercars series will finish at the end of the 2020 championship.
U.S. automaker General Motors announced in February it had decided to scrap the Holden brand at the end of 2020, leaving the V8 touring cars championship under a cloud.
Eight of the 13 teams in this year’s suspended series race Holden’s Commodore model cars, with the iconic Australian brand providing factory backing to the Red Bull Holden Racing team.
Holden was contracted to the Red Bull team through to the end of the 2021 season but said it had settled with partner supplier Triple Eight Race Engineering to terminate the contract a year early.
“The settlement … will see the Red Bull Holden Racing Team remain on the grid in its present guise until the end of the current … Supercars Championship season,” the team said in a statement on Tuesday.
Holden and Triple Eight have won eight team championships, six drivers’ titles since starting their partnership in 2010.
The Supercars series was suspended during the second round at Melbourne’s Albert Park in March due to the coronavirus pandemic but is set to resume later this month in Sydney.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
