Scaling back will move ‘Huzzah’ forward: Wilson
Fabian Coulthard in the Bundaberg Racing Commodore. In the opening round of the championship next weekend, the car will compete under 'Huzzah Racing'
Walkinshaw Racing CEO Craig Wilson is confident that scaling back from four to three cars for this year’s V8 Supercars Championship will help bring ‘Huzzah Racing’ (aka Bundaberg Racing) squad towards the front of the field.
Team drivers Fabian Coulthard and Andrew Thompson finished 23rd and 30th in the 2010 points standings respectively – a disastrous result for the dual championship winning squad.
With the team having sold its #10 license back to V8 Supercars, Coulthard will line-up alongside Toll Holden Racing Team drivers Garth Tander and James Courtney in a three-car outfit this season.
Wilson believes that the restructure will bring a positive outcome for the entire Clayton-based squad.
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“Having less cars to focus on will be a definite positive for us,” Wilson told Speedcafe.com.au.
“Even though we’ve got less vehicles that we’re looking after, we haven’t reduced our engineering base at all.
“We were probably being stretched last year, and we were certainly stretched when it came to the situation where Will (Davison) was struggling, and Fabian and Thompson were both brand-new.
“That just put us into overload really, trying to maintain the sorts of standards we wanted to.”
Coulthard joined the Walkinshaw stable last season after two years of driving Triple Eight-built Falcons at Paul Cruickshank Racing.
According to Wilson, the Kiwi – one of the few left-foot brakers in the category – did not immediately gel with the Walkinshaw cars.
“I think we’ve gone through a pretty steep learning curve with Fabian and vice-versa, with respect to him and the car,” said Wilson.
“Unfortunately he had some incidents that prevented him showing some improved form as well.
“At Bathurst the car was quick until the race – I think he was on target to have quite a solid race at Bathurst.
“I think the combination of having Fabian in his second year and being a lot more familiar now with the car and the personnel and so forth will bring a positive improvement.”
Due to alcohol advertising being prohibited in Abu Dhabi, the Bundaberg Commodore has been entered as Huzzah Racing for the opening event of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship.
See below for a Bundaberg commercial featuring the ‘Huzzah’ promotion