Can Walkinshaw be trusted to own HRT V8 team again?

[John S]

This report suggests that the Oz V8 Supercar series may not be in favour of Tom's tricky take over at HRT.

By David Wright Tuesday, December 2nd on Autosport.com


The Holden Racing Team is set to be fully owned by Tom Walkinshaw again, after a deal between current owners Mark Skaife and Walkinshaw was reached.

The announcement followed reports on Monday that claimed Skaife was in nearly four million (Australian) dollars of debt after arrangements between him and Walkinshaw regarding running costs of the team had seen costs spiral out of control, and that the financial trouble had forced Skaife into retirement.

However, Skaife denied that the situation was as it was originally reported.

"Tom and I have been working together on this for several weeks," said Skaife. "It's disappointing that our negotiations were inaccurately reported just as we were reaching agreement in the best interests of Holden Racing Team."

The confidential agreement clears any debt Skaife had with the team, and ensures that he will remain as an ambassador for the Holden Racing Team and the Holden marque in general.

Skaife's ownership of the team originally followed Walkinshaw's own financial troubles when TWR was liquidated in 2002, leading to the sale of his two V8 Supercar teams, Holden Racing Team and KMart Racing.

Skaife became the new owner of HRT, while John and Margaret Kelly, the parents of V8 Supercar drivers Todd and Rick, took over as owners of KMart Racing.

Since then, Walkinshaw has steadily become more and more involved in V8 Supercar again with a managerial role at Holden Motorsport, which he then became owner of towards the end of 2005.

He has turned it into Walkinshaw Performance/Walkinshaw Racing, which is responsible for the preparation of the HRT and HSV Dealer Team cars, with the change of ownership from Holden to Walkinshaw and a change in how he was being billed for these services allegedly causing Skaife's HRT debts to spiral out of control.

This came despite a decision by V8 Supercar bosses that Walkinshaw could not have a controlling interest in a team without their approval, a situation that came under further review when Skaife's HRT debts led him to making Walkinshaw a 50 per cent partner in the team at the start of the 2007 season - a controversial decision which was eventually approved by V8 Supercar.

Whether V8 Supercar will be willing to let Walkinshaw have full ownership of a team once again is yet to be seen, though they may feel that after six years he has served his time. However, if they feel he has forced Skaife in to relinquishing control to him, they could block his plans.

HSV Dealer Team Racing, owned by the Kelly family, are expected to break away from the Walkinshaw fold next year to run their own team in new premises with new sponsors, with cars likely to be provided by Perkins Engineering.