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IN THE COCKPIT: Lee Holdsworth, Phillip Island V8s
It’s one of those circuits that every race driver, regardless of the category that they race in, would like to drive and few leave disappointed.
Lee Holdsworth  |  Posted May 27, 2012  
Holdsworth leads teammate Shane van Gisbergen last weekend. (Photo: IRWIN Racing)
Holdsworth's V8 Blog on SPEED.com


Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is the home of the Australian MotoGP race and is regarded as one of the best permanent race circuits in the world.

It’s one of those circuits that every race driver, regardless of the category that they race in, would like to drive and few leave disappointed.

Why is Phillip Island so good? It’s a very scenic track, it is right on the ocean and spectators have a great view of the track where ever they are sitting. For a driver it’s fast and flowing, there’s an element of danger and it’s very challenging to get the car set up right.

Positioned right on the edge of the Island, with the ocean in clear view, means that you have to contend with the wind.

If there is a headwind down the straight you can take turn one with a lot more speed, you can also take the last corner with a lot of speed, more than 200 kilometres an hour. The problem with a headwind is that you suffer through the ‘Hayshed’ (turns seven and eight) because the wind is coming into you. If the wind is blowing in the other direction, a tailwind, then you pick up more speed down the straight but it makes it harder as you enter turn one. The wind is always changing; the problem with this is that if it changes significantly from day to day then you need to change the car’s set-up to suit. This makes it challenging.

My favourite part of the track is turn one and the final corner coming onto the straight, simply because they are high speed and you are driving on the edge.

Probably the most spectacular part of the track is coming past the front straight, which from the cockpit looks like you are going to drive off a cliff, because all you can see is the ocean. Then you turn right into turn one doing some pretty impressive speeds. Before you arrive at that turn, and depending on the wind direction, you can brake super deep into the corner and you run through turn one at over 200 kilometres an hour, so it's a pretty exciting part of the track.

The last corner is exciting because it too is very quick. You lock it into fourth, carry as much speed as possible, pull fifth at the exit and head down the main straight.

The most challenging section of the track is probably turn two. You are trying to keep the front end into the corner which is difficult. Midway through the corner the track cambers away and you lose front grip at this point. It’s very difficult to get out of the corner; you need to get this corner spot on to get a good lap in.

Over the last four years the Phillip Island race has been 500 kilometres in length and the lead in event to Bathurst. This year we go to Sandown prior to Bathurst and Phillip Island staged two sprint races, one was 32 laps and the other 45.

The approach to a 500 kay race versus two shorter races is not that different; wherever you go you go to win. That said, less laps mean you go harder and you are more aggressive because there are less laps to make passing opportunities.

We struggled a little at the start of the weekend during practice. My Bathurst co-driver Craig Baird got a couple of sessions to re-acquaint himself with the car. This is done at several events over the year so that co-drivers aren’t arriving at Bathurst with no seat time. I still only got two 20 minute practice sessions to prepare the IRWIN Tools Ford but they were punctuated with red flags, making it hard to get a flow of development happening.

I put on my second set of tyres at the end of the day and made some pretty good gains throughout the session. We never got to check the IRWIN Ford out properly at the end because the session got red flagged. We were on a good lap, but half way through the lap the session was stopped. Had I completed the lap I think it would have put us in a pretty decent position. Despite this I was still feeling good about where we were.

On Saturday I qualified 10th and made it up to fifth in the race. It was a good all-round effort because my teammates took second and third.

It was a good race made more memorable for the fans in that championship leaders Jamie Whincup and Will Davison came together and rubbed each other out. Will went off the track, slid over the grass out of control and collected Jamie’s car. Luckily no one was injured, but it was close.

I got a bit of steering damage on that first lap after contact with (Fabian) Coulthard, so to finish the race fifth when we were trying to limp home was not bad. We also managed to jump a spot in the championship to fourth, so overall it was a really good day.

Sunday started out well, we were fourth in practice but couldn’t put it together in qualifying for the second and final race of the weekend. We started 12th and finished ninth.

Before the event there was speculation on whether we could get through the 45 lap race on only one pit stop. Everyone wanted to do this but in the end a safety car on lap five saw almost everyone take advantage and put on new tyres and add some fuel.

We were one of the few cars that decided to stay out, this shot us up from mid-field to second. We did our best to hang on but our tyres went off and I had to conserve a massive amount of fuel, so to finish ninth was actually quite pleasing.

The championship is so tight, fifth on Saturday shot me up to fourth, then ninth on Sunday dropped me back to sixth. I’m only 45 points adrift of fourth place and I can feel a win is not too far away.

The next event is in Darwin in a month’s time, so till next time enjoy the Indy 500 and good luck to Australia’s Pole getter Ryan Briscoe.

~Lee Holdsworth



Lee Holdsworth is one of the emerging stars of Australian V8 Supercars racing. After six seasons driving for General Motors, he has moved camps and will drive the IRWIN Tools Ford in 2012. Known as one of the most talented drivers down pit lane, most believe he is a V8 Supercars champion in the making. Learn more about Lee and the IRWIN team at www.irwinracing.com.au.
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