Photo: V8

Holden halts V6 turbo development

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Holden has announced that it has postponed the introduction of its new V6 turbo engine into the Supercars Championship and will instead focus on the current V8 ‘for the foreseeable future’.

The V6 engine, being developed with Triple Eight Race Engineering, had originally been due to debut this year with the new ZB Commodore before the decision was taken to only run the unit in selected events as a wild card.

However, despite a number of track tests having taken place, Holden will now put the engine to one side, but was keen to stress it remained committed to the sport.

“At Holden we are always assessing the motorsport landscape,” marketing director Mark Harland said. “After working closely with all Holden teams we have decided to put a hold on the development of the V6 Supercars engine.

“We are 100 per cent committed to motorsport and our sponsorship of the Red Bull Holden Racing Team and supporting all Holden teams in both the Supercars and SuperUte paddock.

“This is thanks to the monumental effort Holden and Triple Eight have put into engineering and developing the Holden Supercar and we remain committed to that advancement of motorsport engineering in what is one of the most technically advanced motorsport categories in the world.

“We’re excited to see how the all-new Commodore supercar is performing on the track and the interest the road car is getting in our showrooms. It’s a great car and we’re proud of it.”

Expanding on the reasons when quizzed at Symmons Plains ahead of this weekend’s third meeting of the season, Harland said uncertainty over the future direction of engines in the series had played a part in the decision.

“I think for now, we know we’ve got a good package with the twin-turbo V6, so we’re just going to set it aside, focus on the V8 until we get a little bit of clarity on where everyone is,” he said. “As that starts to evolve in the next couple of years, we can either bring that back off the shelf or do something else.

“It could be twelve months, it could be 24 months, it could be six months. We have something we can bring out when we need to.”