Red Bull Holden Racing Team Commodores uncovered

By Gordon Liu

Thursday 19th January, 2017 - 11:25am

The new era of the Holden-backed Red Bull team was officially made public at the manufacturer’s Melbourne headquarters with the unveiling of the squad’s 2017 Supercars livery.

Taking some design cues from the Red Bull Formula 1 team, the matte-finish on the Commodores of defending champion Shane van Gisbergen and six-times title winner Jamie Whincup sees the team take to the grid as the Red Bull Holden Racing Team for the first time.

Curiously the cars are devoid of the Red Bull Holden Racing Team moniker.

The new matte livery is a fresh approach as the Brisbane squad enters the first of a three-year deal as Holden’s factory team and which will have exclusive rights to build the next generation Commodore racecar in 2018.

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“It’s a big change for the team this year, but a very exciting one,” said van Gisbergen.

“The history of the Holden brand in Australian touring cars is pretty awesome, so to be a Holden manufacturer driver is pretty special, for it to tie in with Red Bull and Triple Eight is even better.”

Jamie Whincup, the most decorated Championship driver in the sport’s history, has affirmed his commitment to strike back and regain his title from van Gisbergen.

In response to the question of how hard the assignment is to bag a seventh title this year Whincup responded: ‘Oh, it’s only a number.

“But I wouldn’t take up one of the best seats in the category if I didn’t think I was going to be able to win.

“The day I don’t think I wasn’t able to win I’ll hand it over to some young kid.”

While the design of the Red Bull HRT logo has been much vaunted since it was revealed early in the New Year, Triple Eight Race Engineering managing director Roland Dane said the final overall livery was the result of a lot of work between Red Bull in Europe and Australia and Holden.

“A lot of work has gone into this, not only with the Red Bull guys and girls in Australia and in Austria but also with Peter Hughes in the GM Holden design team and Simon McNamara,” Dane said.

“It’s been a real collaboration, and I’d personally like to thank everyone involved across Holden, Red Bull and Triple Eight in creating this livery.”