V8 Supercars - HRT and Toll banned from 2007 Season

[poita]

This is a big uproar if it is real, have only found the news on this site.
It isnt even on teh V8 site, or anywhere else


HRT black flagged

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.

Daily Telegraph





http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21256384-5005401,00.html

[MatsHolden]

It's all sorted now. They just need to present a few more documents and they're fine. No dramas. That article is very sensationalised. They were never banned, just being investigated.

[poita]

basically from wat i understand of it Walkinshaw has his fingers in too many pies and it upset some ppl.

[kabel]

[/URL]Holden Racing Team and Toll HSV Dealer Team expected to be on Adelaide grid

Release Date: 20/02/2007 http://www.v8supercar.com.au/images/spacer.gif

(http://www.v8supercar.com.au/Photogallery/photoview.asp?searchtxt=&ind=M&piid=10842078&cat=EVNT) (http://bigpondguide.com/E975FA3AC742A309BA795D40222ACA4F_3_11_Mark-Winterbottom-Ford-Performance-Racing-V8_race3_06-2006-Round-13-Phillip-Island-Race-3)http://www.v8supercar.com.au/news/images/spacer.gif

(http://bigpondguide.com/1F224B81EE6A2BE69071A8A05624044F_3_11_Garth-Tander-Toll-HSV-Dealer-Team-V8_interview_06-2006-Round-13-Phillip-Island-Interview-2-with-Garth-Tander) (http://www.v8supercar.com.au/Photogallery/photoview.asp?searchtxt=&ind=M&piid=10842113&cat=EVNT)[URL="http://www.v8supercar.com.au/Photogallery/photoview.asp?searchtxt=&ind=M&piid=10842078&cat=EVNT"]
The racing entitlements of both the Holden Racing Team and the Toll HSV Dealer Team remain active following an agreement with the controlling body of the V8 Supercar Championship Series teams TEGA.

All parties met yesterday afternoon and reached an agreed position on the validity of both licences. TEGA was satisfied that operational, ownership and control arrangements put forward by both teams met with the conditions of the Team’s Licence Agreement (TLA), pending the provision of supporting documentation.

This means that all 31 licence holders, in anticipation of the documentation from HRT and Toll HSV, will be on the grid at next week’s Clipsal 500 in Adelaide and in the V8 Supercar Championship Series in 2007.

TEGA is responsible for the licencing of teams that compete in the V8 Supercar Championship Series, along with the rules of the sport, issues of compliance and those affecting the teams.

From the official V8 Supercar site

[poita]

wonder how much it cost skaife the get the licences back

[xplosv57]

F*** me, almost had a freakin heart attack when i read that, should get sorted out though, i know this would happen, 2 teams under the 1 banner!!!

[blueraven]

damn...

here i was hoping the series would fall in a heap and we could have a real touring car series.... :(

[nadg63]

It's all sorted now. They just need to present a few more documents and they're fine. No dramas. That article is very sensationalised. They were never banned, just being investigated.

Damn, that's a shame!

[Tfer]

Damn, that's a shame!

Agreed :rolleyes:

[Mr T]

damn...

here i was hoping the series would fall in a heap and we could have a real touring car series.... :(

I'm with ya on that one...****ing spewin they sorted it out...!!!

[Shaun]

I'm with ya on that one...****ing spewin they sorted it out...!!!

Theres not much chance of that happening though guys. To Popular for that to happen

[blueraven]

i dunno..

i think a series of "bring out yer best" from all manufacturers would be sweet.

thinkflagship cars from every brand..sure it would have the falcon/commo v8's..against m5's, evo's, wrx's, volvo, porsche etc..

a real indication of what the various cars can do. Some tracks would favour the smaller better handling cars, other the the bigger more powerful etc..

now that would be worth watching :clap:

[JasonGilholme]

they need somehting simliar to JGTC but with AUDM Production Cars.

Now that would be a good thing to watch.

[Blue_Dvl]

bugger..... im guessing there is far too much money changing hands for it to happen.

[RudeOne]

its all a marketing stunt in my opinion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nadg63]

i dunno..

i think a series of "bring out yer best" from all manufacturers would be sweet.

thinkflagship cars from every brand..sure it would have the falcon/commo v8's..against m5's, evo's, wrx's, volvo, porsche etc..

a real indication of what the various cars can do. Some tracks would favour the smaller better handling cars, other the the bigger more powerful etc..

now that would be worth watching :clap:

Yeah, but they tried that and then when they found that the Aussie Dinosaur cars were getting their butts kicked by Cossies and GTR's they just banned them all and went back to their boring 2 brand series; and lets face it, they'd probably still get their butts kicked if they tried it again!

If they were genuine about it being a 'race' series then maybe they would welcome the likes of Toyota etc getting involved, but again they are seemingly scared because the Japanese have discovered technology - more than 8 valves!

On a footnote, I see that Toyota have managed to get into the NASCAR series in the US, and the Americans do not seem to like it one little bit!

[JasonGilholme]

I would really like to see a series that didn't have V8 fords or holdens in it.

It would actualy be, like people have said, a race. at the moment its too bland. not enough variation between cars.

I wonder what a Camry would look like in race spec! Or even a honda accord Euro. :D:D

[xplosv57]

So i guess no one watches GT Production then?? Theres a huge variety of cars there, pretty much in factory form too, great series!!! However, can't see V8s falling over anytime soon, seems like theyre just going up and up!!!

[MatsHolden]

Or Nations Cup when it was on. The V8 Supercars category won't change, as Xplosv said it's just getting stronger and stronger. Maybe some other manufacturers can put the money into developing another series like Holden and Ford have done with V8 Supercars.

[xplosv57]

I cant see any other manufacturers joining the V8s eg. Mitsubishi/Toyota, seeing as none of their production cars would be based on the race car!! I know the supercars still use 5.0l V8s and conventional rear ends, but at least u can watch the V8s on telly and go out and buy a V8 rwd Falcon or Commodore!!! Would cost the others alot to convert theirs to V8 spec, would be like DTM budget with the RWD Astras!!!

[Tfer]

And possibly not enough of the corporate dollar floating around to support another reall big series :(

[blueraven]

I cant see any other manufacturers joining the V8s eg. Mitsubishi/Toyota, seeing as none of their production cars would be based on the race car!! I know the supercars still use 5.0l V8s and conventional rear ends, but at least u can watch the V8s on telly and go out and buy a V8 rwd Falcon or Commodore!!! Would cost the others alot to convert theirs to V8 spec, would be like DTM budget with the RWD Astras!!!

who said they have to be v8 rear wheel drive? i know the current series thats what they have to be, but it woul dbe awesome watching an evo slice round a corner with a m5 drifting behind it :D

[Tfer]

who said they have to be v8 rear wheel drive? i know the current series thats what they have to be, but it woul dbe awesome watching an evo slice round a corner with a m5 drifting behind it :D

True..... production car racing :)

[xplosv57]

Well it is called V8 supercars......

Look if GTP could be as big as the V8 supercars, id love that but they dont get the airplay or interest from alot of people!!! I love watching it whenever they have it on TV just gotta get the interest up there!!!

Plus i think the M5 would be drifting in front of the evo!!!!

[Blue_Dvl]

yeah totally agree the production car championship is fantastic, but has very limited television coverage.

Also both Chrysler have a V8 300c RWD, and Lexus too have a V8 RWD model.
Im sure they could come up with homologated supercar models to join the current series.

[xplosv57]

That would be awesome even the BMW 550i and Merc V8 (dunno the name) alongside the 300C and the LS430, but i highly doubt any of those manufacturers would commit to such a thing considering how much itd cost!!!!

[MatsHolden]

Quite simply Ford and Holden don't want any other manufacturers in V8 Supercars as it is all about the traditional Aussie rivalry of Ford vs Holden and to showcase Australian cars. (And don't anyone get into 'oh but they aren't like the Commodores and Falcons on the road' no one said they were and we all know they aren't).

[Tfer]

Quite simply Ford and Holden don't want any other manufacturers in V8 Supercars as it is all about the traditional Aussie rivalry of Ford vs Holden and to showcase Australian cars. (And don't anyone get into 'oh but they aren't like the Commodores and Falcons on the road' no one said they were and we all know they aren't).

Yep true, with big american engines (really Australian)..... and it sucks :p

But yes I go along and watch the V8 processions..... and really enjoy the support races :D

[JasonGilholme]

they are if you put a sticker on the window!!!! :P hehehe

[Tfer]

they are if you put a sticker on the window!!!! :P hehehe

What... Australian? :confused:

[MatsHolden]

Yep true, with big american engines (really Australian)..... and it sucks :p

But yes I go along and watch the V8 processions..... and really enjoy the support races :D

Whilst the Commodore and Falcon are designed and built in Australia they're Australian cars. :cool:

[Tfer]

Whilst the Commodore and Falcon are designed and built in Australia they're Australian cars. :cool:

Mat.... but we aren't going there now are we ;)

[nadg63]

Or Nations Cup when it was on. The V8 Supercars category won't change, as Xplosv said it's just getting stronger and stronger. Maybe some other manufacturers can put the money into developing another series like Holden and Ford have done with V8 Supercars.

Well that lost all credibility when the Aussies had to cheat by allowing that Monaro unobtanium/V8 Supercar/hybrid thing enter!

[Tfer]

Well that lost all credibility when the Aussies had to cheat by allowing that Monaro unobtanium/V8 Supercar/hybrid thing enter!

Yep.... and then the b***sh^t flew out of HQ re: reasons why they couldn't produce more etc :rolleyes: agreed :rolleyes:

[Wraith]

If you guys recall, this same debacle came up a year ago as well and the only way out of it at that time, was for Skaife to take ownership of HRT, but all was not finalised....

It all seems to be god and done now :) and yes I'm so eagerly waiting for the new season with the new VE cars WOOOHOOOO :D

Something to look forward to watching every 3rd weekend :)

As to all you buggers above who don't get into the V8 supercars - bad luck and stiff **** hahahaha (joke) HRT and Toll HSV and the boys are here to stay :D

[Tfer]

If you guys recall, this same debacle came up a year ago as well and the only way out of it at that time, was for Skaife to take ownership of HRT, but all was not finalised....

It all seems to be god and done now :) and yes I'm so eagerly waiting for the new season with the new VE cars WOOOHOOOO :D

Something to look forward to watching every 3rd weekend :)

As to all you buggers above who don't get into the V8 supercars - bad luck and stiff **** hahahaha (joke) HRT and Toll HSV and the boys are here to stay :D

With the v8's come the support races.... and I am heading to Phillip Island this year..... so yep, I am along for the ride :D