Red Bull Holden unveils last Aussie V8 Supercar

By: Spencer Leech, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 20.01.2017

2017 Red Bull Holden Racing Team Commodore

One of the last of the local great eights.

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team unveiled its latest racer at its Melbourne headquarters this week, In preparation for this year’s Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. It will continue to be piloted by reigning victor Shane van Gisbergen and six-time champ Jamie Whincup for the 2017 season.

As the VF Commodore nears the end of production, this will be the final season that Holden backs an Australian-made race car. Next year will see an all-new Holden Supercar built on the European Opel Insignia platform. That car is currently under development at Triple Eight Race Engineering in Brisbane.

"It’s a big change for the team this year, but a very exciting one," said van Gisbergen "The history of the Holden brand in Australian touring cars is pretty awesome, so to be a Holden manufacturer driver is pretty special, for it to tie in with Red Bull and Triple Eight is even better."

The new livery has a noticeably matte finish and features design cues from the Red Bull Formula 1 team. Strangely, the famous HRT lion and helmet logo hasn’t been incorporated into the design. Triple Eight Race Engineering managing director Roland Dane had this to say about the project:

"A lot of work has gone into this, not only with the Red Bull guys and girls in Australia and in Austria but also with Peter Hughes in the GM Holden design team and Simon McNamara," Dane explained.

"It’s been a real collaboration, and I’d personally like to thank everyone involved across Holden, Red Bull and Triple Eight in creating this livery."

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team will make its on-track debut on March 2-5 at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.

Holden timed this unveil to coincide with that of a range of limited edition final-generation Commodores.

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