Brake failure caused #2 HRT crash, set to miss shootout

The Holden Racing Team has confirmed that a brake failure was the cause of the crash at Griffins Bend during the sixth practice session, which saw the car, with co-driver Warren Luff at the wheel, crash into the Triple Eight Holden Commodore of Craig Lowndes, which could also be forced to miss the shootout.

HRT managing director Adrian Burgess has confirmed the cause of the accident, and has apologised to the rival Holden team, which were the innocent part in the accident.

“The accident proves how strong these new-generation Holden V8 Supercars are. Unfortunately, the car just lost the front brakes going into Turn 2,” said Burgess.

“We can only apologise to Red Bull Racing Australia – it was not their fault. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The team are working to repair the car for the 1000km race on Sunday, and are almost certain that they will miss the qualifying shootout at 17:10 this afternoon, potentially consigning the car to tenth on the grid.

“We’ve only had a quick look, but the damage is extensive,” Burgess said.

“We need to pull the sides off the Commodore and assess what the true extent of the damage is.

“The cage has been damaged in a couple of places, and we’re sure that we can fix the place we’ve identified so far.

“However, there’s other damage yet to be assessed that we’re not sure about yet, and whether we’ll be able to fix it to the high standards we expect.”

“We’ll have a better idea of whether it will be ready in an hour or so.

“For now, we’ve got to focus on getting the HRT Commodore fixed, and ready for tomorrow’s Great Race.”