Walkinshaw Andretti United
Walkinshaw Andretti United
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Walkinshaw Andretti United

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Walkinshaw Andretti United

Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team, initially branded as the Holden Racing Team, used to field Holden Commodores in the Supercars Championship before making the switch to Ford Mustangs for the 2023 season. The two cars are currently driven by Ryan Wood and Chaz Mostert.

Formed in 1990 as the Holden Racing Team, it is one of the most successful Supercars Championship teams in the history of the category, having won the drivers' championship six times, the teams' championship five times and the series' signature race, the Bathurst 1000, eight times. In 2017, the Holden Racing Team name was transferred by Holden to Triple Eight Race Engineering and the team was renamed Mobil 1 HSV Racing. For the 2018 season, the team was rebranded Walkinshaw Andretti United, as Andretti Autosport and United Autosports become shareholders.

As part of the joint venture established in 1987 between Tom Walkinshaw and Holden to form Holden Special Vehicles, Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) was to run Holden's motor sport programme. TWR were responsible for designing the Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV, which was homologated for racing in August 1988 after Holden Special Vehicles completed the required 500.

For 1988 it was decided to contract out the racing programme to Perkins Engineering although a car built by TWR in England was raced by Tom Walkinshaw at the RAC Tourist Trophy and Bathurst 1000.

For 1989 it was planned for TWR to run the full season with two cars. Win Percy and Neil Crompton were announced as the team's drivers and a second VL Commodore built in England was tested in Holden Racing Team livery at Calder but with the likelihood of being uncompetitive against the Ford Sierra RS500s, the Australian Touring Car Championship programme was cancelled. For the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and Grand Prix support races, the programme was once again contracted to Perkins Engineering.

In 1990 the operation was brought in house with longtime TWR driver Win Percy moving to Melbourne to fill the role of both driver and team manager. Percy drove at all Australian Touring Car Championship rounds except for Mallala where Neil Crompton drove after Percy returned to England for a family bereavement. Percy's highest qualifying position was sixth at Winton and highest race result a third place at Lakeside, and he finished eighth overall in the championship.

At the Sandown 500, Percy and Crompton qualified the car fourth, however did not finish the race. For the Bathurst 1000 the team entered two cars with Percy, against the wishes of Holden and Tom Walkinshaw, recruiting Allan Grice to co-drive the lead car. Crompton was joined by Brad Jones. With Percy suffering a shoulder injury, his decision to hire Grice was vindicated with the latter handling the bulk of the driving on the way to an unexpected victory, the second car finished fifth.

For 1991 the VN Commodore was homologated with Win Percy driving in all ATCC rounds except Lakeside where Allan Grice substituted while Percy competed in an event in Europe. Percy again finished eighth in the championship. At the Bathurst 1000, Percy and Grice teamed together to finish second, with the second car of Neil Crompton and Brad Jones not finishing after running out of fuel.

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