Holdsworth tipping ‘race of survival’

Lee Holdsworth is expecting a challenging return to the Repco Supercars Championship as rain continues to pepper the Sydney region.

In the feel-good story of the silly season, Holdsworth was rescued from the sidelines after his Bathurst 1000-winning co-drive convinced Grove Racing to sign him as Andre Heimgartner’s replacement.

Holdsworth is now little more than 36 hours out from his first solo Supercars race since September 2020, and remains grateful for his second chance.

He’ll have to bring his A-game from the get-go, with changeable conditions seen all day at Sydney Motorsport Park yesterday expected to be a sign of things to come.

THE FINAL RACE OF THE 2023 REPCO SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP ON ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST STREET CIRCUITS.
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Up to 20mm of rain is forecast today for the Blacktown region; 3-10mm tomorrow; and 15-35mm on Sunday.

“300km is a long way around here in the dry, let alone in the wet,” said the #10 driver.

“It will be a race of survival if it rains; just need to keep it on the black stuff and try to bring it home in a decent position.

“The Penrite Racing cars were pretty quick last year in the wet at this track, weren’t so great in the dry, so maybe we’ll come out of this with a pretty good result.

“But even if it’s dry, we’re hoping that we have made some big improvements over the break.”

Kelly Grove Racing, as it was then known, were supreme in the wet last year but often struggled in the dry.

As Holdsworth indicated, that trend was in full effect at SMP during the quartet of rounds there in 2021.

David Reynolds braved heavy rain to take third in the Top 10 Shootout for the ultimately cancelled Race 30 after Heimgartner had been on provisional pole, while Luke Youlden had weeks earlier shone in wet qualifying while subbing in for Reynolds.

The Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight will involve a pair of 300km races, the first on Saturday night (19:10 AEDT) before another 77-lapper on Sunday (14:30 AEDT).