McLaren boss and Andretti Autosport to buy into V8 Supercar team

WALKINSHAW, the owners of Holden Special Vehicles, is poised to announce two international parties will buy out a portion of the Supercars race team.

US giant Andretti Autosport and European outfit United Autosport – owned by McLaren boss Zak Brown – are believed to be banding together to buy part of the Walkinshaw racing squad.

Wheels believes the former Holden Racing Team, this year competing as HSV Racing, will be renamed Walkinshaw Andretti United as of January 1 next year.

Andretti Autosport competes in a number of North American racing championships, including IndyCar, while United Autosport currently fields sportscars in European LMP2 and LMP3 categories.

HSV was contacted for comment, while managing director Tim Jackson declined to comment.

Rumours of a potential buyout for Walkinshaw’s racing team have swirled for the last month, with initial speculation that United Autosport could go as far as taking complete ownership of the team.

It is understood an official release detailing the new ownership split is imminent.

The HSV Racing Team currently fields two cars in the Supercars championship, and will take part in the Bathurst 1000 this weekend.

Walkinshaw lost the rights to field the Holden Racing Team earlier this year, with Triple Eight Race Engineering now competing as the factory team.

The Clayton team has struggled for consistent form in recent years, with sporadic success at races highlighted by a victory at last year’s Sandown 500.

During its time in Supercars, dating back to 1990, Walkinshaw Racing has won six drivers’ championships, 179 races, and scored 93 pole positions.

The latest major ownership shakeup occurred in 2007 when a dispute involving Mark Skaife and the then Supercars governing body, TEGA, revealed the former racing driver had ownership and control of the team, not Tom Walkinshaw. Skaife sold his shares in the outfit in December 2008, giving Walkinshaw sole ownership.

Tom’s son Ryan is currently in charge of the team. Long-time team manager Adrian Burgess was let go from the squad earlier this year.