Erebus Motorsport V8 achieves reliability milestone

Despite carnage around them throughout the weekend, for the first time ever, all three of the Erebus Motorsport V8 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG V8 Supercars have completed every single racing lap of the weekend, gathering serious data as the team heads towards the upcoming endurance races.

Among the positives to come from a difficult weekend at Winton in Northern Victoria was the strength of the E63 AMG racecars, that, this afternoon in Race 27 particularly were pushed in all manner of directions.

Lee Holdsworth, Erebus Motorsport

Photo by: Circuit of the Americas

The competitiveness of the current V8 Supercars field has been highlighted more than ever this weekend, with two of the qualifying sessions seeing just eight-tenths of a second covering first through to 28th on the grid.

To add performance perspective, only nine cars in the field, three of which are the Erebus Motorsport V8 vehicles, do not use Winton Motor Raceway as their designated testing track.

The Erebus E63 AMG’s, comprising Lee Holdsworth (#4 IRWIN Racing), Maro Engel (#9 SP Tools Racing) and Tim Slade (#47 Heavy Haulage Australia Racing), were all slightly outside their optimum window in the three qualifying sessions over the weekend, seeing them start each race further back than they would have hoped.

The importance of qualifying up the field in 2013 was shown today, with some competitors qualifying at the head of the field for Race 26, yet mid to rear of field for Race 27. In most cases, their overall results reflected where they started from.

Analysing the race pace from the three Erebus Motorsport V8 cars against the competition shows them in or around the top 10 on a consistent basis. Yesterday’s first half of the 60/60 format saw all three pace quicker than the majority of the field in the latter stages.

To quote Lee Holdsworth from the slow down lap this afternoon: “There is pace within the car...rest assured, the results will come.”

Erebus Motorsport V8 acknowledges also the momentous first victory for its fellow new manufacturer to V8 Supercars in 2013, Nissan Motorsport with its victory yesterday. Team Owner, Betty Klimenko and the entire team extend their congratulations to Todd and Rick Kelly and the Nissan Motorsport outfit.

Ryan Maddison - Erebus Motorsport Ceo: “One cannot say that V8 Supercars isn’t a contact sport after today’s action!” Maddison quipped. “For the first time this year, we have come home with all three cars in one piece in every race after what has been a torrid weekend to say the least.

“To have all three cars finish every race strongly this weekend is a huge confidence boost for our team. It is so tough out there at the moment, I think the last few races have shown that qualifying is absolutely crucial to the outcome of the race.

“At Queensland Raceway, we benefitted from that, here we didn’t.

“We aren’t talking seconds, we aren’t talking tenths of seconds, we are talking hundredths and thousandths of a second between being towards the top or the bottom of the pile - it’s literally a blink of an eye.

“I’m proud of how our team has fought through this weekend, each one of our drivers can be happy that all of our cars are in one piece. In comparable situations this year, for sure, we would have been in the wrong spot at the wrong time and exited the race.

“It’s a huge moment that we can say for the first time, despite everything being thrown at us, that all three of the Erebus Motorsport V8 E63 AMG V8 Supercars have finished every racing lap.

“It’s a milestone for us and the AMG Customer Sports program, equally for Lee, Maro and Tim and our major partners, IRWIN Tools, SP Tools and Heavy Haulage Australia.

“There’s no question we have some work to do, its the nature of such a strong category, but we enter the endurance races with our heads high.”

On the victory by Nissan Motorsport: “We extend our congratulations to Nissan Motorsport for the historic first victory yesterday by James Moffat,” said Maddison. “To come into the category as a new manufacturer in 2013 is not an easy task and that Nissan have scored this breakthrough victory so early vindicates the Car of the Future having it’s desired effect.

“Obviously we would have loved to have been the first non-Holden or Ford to have won a race in the category, but we’re extremely pleased for Nissan Motorsport that they were able to achieve this milestone this weekend - we cannot wait to join them as race winners.”

Nissan Motorsport