DRAMATIC talks were underway last night to save the integrity of the V8 Supercar championship after two of the leading teams were thrown out of the series.
The famous Holden Racing Team and reigning champions Toll HSV Dealer – two of the biggest motor racing outfits in the nation – have been banned from the 2007 V8 Supercar championship.
The ban threatens the immediate future of the reigning V8 Supercar champion Rick Kelly and his Toll co-driver Garth Tander.
But even more dramatically, the ban threatens the future of the Holden Racing Team – the most famous team name in the sport.
HRT is also the most successful team in the history of Australian motorsport and has been home to some of the sport's greatest driving names – Peter Brock, Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes.
Skaife and his co-driver Todd Kelly, who won Bathurst in 2005, were still testing their new Commodore yesterday in Victoria preparation for the coming season.
The ban, less than two weeks before the opening round of the 2007 season, has sent shockwaves through the motorsport industry.
The Touring Car Entrants Group, which licences V8 Supercar race teams, cancelled the licences of both teams over an ownership issue.
At the centre of the ban is the position of the powerful Holden personality Tom Walkinshaw.
Under TEGA rules, no two V8 teams are allowed to be owned by the same person.
For the past 12 months – with evidence of close co-operation between HRT and Toll – TEGA has asked the teams for clarification of their ownership.
When last Friday no such information was forthcoming TEGA, sighting an "unwillingness of both organisations to reveal their ownership structures" revoked their licences.
Officially, HRT is owned by Mark Skaife while the Toll team is owned by the Kellys' father, John Kelly. However, the position of Walkinshaw clouds the ownership issue.
He is a former owner of HRT who returned to the Australian racing scene at the start of the 2006 season ostensibly as general manager of both HRT and Toll.
A controversial driver swap program between HRT and Toll paired the Kelly boys and saw Skaife link with Tander for the last year's Sandown and Bathurst events.
The move was seen as trademark Walkinshaw, the reasoning being no one else in the sport is powerful enough to have been able to extract such co-operation in the often acrimonious world of V8 Supercars.
The move incensed TEGA officials who are headed by the experienced motor racing administrator Kelvin O'Reilly.
Last night O'Reilly initiated a "mediation meeting" with senior Holden executives to try to resolve the matter before the start of the season.
The famous Holden Racing Team and reigning champions Toll HSV Dealer – two of the biggest motor racing outfits in the nation – have been banned from the 2007 V8 Supercar championship.
The ban threatens the immediate future of the reigning V8 Supercar champion Rick Kelly and his Toll co-driver Garth Tander.
But even more dramatically, the ban threatens the future of the Holden Racing Team – the most famous team name in the sport.
HRT is also the most successful team in the history of Australian motorsport and has been home to some of the sport's greatest driving names – Peter Brock, Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes.
Skaife and his co-driver Todd Kelly, who won Bathurst in 2005, were still testing their new Commodore yesterday in Victoria preparation for the coming season.
The ban, less than two weeks before the opening round of the 2007 season, has sent shockwaves through the motorsport industry.
The Touring Car Entrants Group, which licences V8 Supercar race teams, cancelled the licences of both teams over an ownership issue.
At the centre of the ban is the position of the powerful Holden personality Tom Walkinshaw.
Under TEGA rules, no two V8 teams are allowed to be owned by the same person.
For the past 12 months – with evidence of close co-operation between HRT and Toll – TEGA has asked the teams for clarification of their ownership.
When last Friday no such information was forthcoming TEGA, sighting an "unwillingness of both organisations to reveal their ownership structures" revoked their licences.
Officially, HRT is owned by Mark Skaife while the Toll team is owned by the Kellys' father, John Kelly. However, the position of Walkinshaw clouds the ownership issue.
He is a former owner of HRT who returned to the Australian racing scene at the start of the 2006 season ostensibly as general manager of both HRT and Toll.
A controversial driver swap program between HRT and Toll paired the Kelly boys and saw Skaife link with Tander for the last year's Sandown and Bathurst events.
The move was seen as trademark Walkinshaw, the reasoning being no one else in the sport is powerful enough to have been able to extract such co-operation in the often acrimonious world of V8 Supercars.
The move incensed TEGA officials who are headed by the experienced motor racing administrator Kelvin O'Reilly.
Last night O'Reilly initiated a "mediation meeting" with senior Holden executives to try to resolve the matter before the start of the season.
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