Superior brake parts cleanerSuperior brake parts cleaner

Bairdo confirmed with Erebus for 2014 V8 Enduros

V8 Supercars

V8 Supercars9:04pm 13 May 2014

a40dbd6e-5ff9-4e07-be0b-34709f6b113e

Erebus Motorsport completes its Pirtek Enduro Cup line-up, annoucing Craig Baird’s pairing with Lee Holdsworth for the third consecutive year.

The Queensland-based pair is determined to build on their successful partnership once again, whihc saw an impressive team best fourth place finish at last year’s Wilson Security Sandown 500, and fifth overall across the three endurance events. Consistency was the key, with a 14th at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and 12th and fifth at the Gold Coast 600 adding up.

Erebus Motorsport CEO Ryan Maddison was pleased to have two accomplished drivers again combining in the #4 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, following on from the team’s other co-driver announcement of Will and Alex Davison in the #9 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG.

“Lee and Craig performed fantastically during last year’s enduro series so it’s great to have them teaming up again,’’ said Maddison.

“Craig is an experienced and accomplished driver in his own right and Lee’s Championship results for Erebus this year have been great, highlighted by his memorable win at Winton.

“With the advances the team has made so far this year, I know the pair is really hungry to get back in the car together again and we expect them to be equally as competitive if not more than they were last year.

“We believe we have assembled a great team with four pedigree drivers heading into the enduros.’’

Holdsworth is excited to again be combining with Baird for this year’s campaign, based on the gains the team has made this season and with the prospect of further improvements to come.

“Obviously it was a huge part of my Championship last year and Bairdo did a fantastic job with me at those three endurance rounds,’’ said Holdsworth.

“Our results were really encouraging for the team and they were our best throughout the year. We nearly got a podium at Sandown and we know we’ve got a much better car this year so I’m hoping we can build on that and have a better shot at the top five.

“Being with Bairdo for the third year in a row, we’ve got a solid relationship there and we know what we want out of the car. Continuity is a huge thing in these enduros and being with someone you are familiar with is a great position to be in.

“Having a driver that’s similar in technique to you is really important and being familiar with the team is a big thing as well.

“I really enjoy the enduros and I especially have the last couple of years with Bairdo because he’s a fun sort of bloke, we definitely speak the same language and the team enjoy having him here.’’

The experienced Baird, regarded as the king of Carrera Cup, will complete a busy schedule of racing prior to the enduros season which has him racing in the GT Asia series in Korea and Japan in the coming weeks as well as a the Australian GT Championship.

Baird said he was working harder than ever at his fitness out of the car and was eager to get back in the #4 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG for the first of the enduros in September.

“It’s always nice to come back to a place where you not only know the guy that you’re driving with, but the team and engineers as it makes it fit a bit easier,’’ said Baird.

“I know a lot of people say this and don’t mean it but I do, Lee and I are really similar in what we want with the car and what we feel so one thing I don’t have to worry about is setting the car up, I have 110 per cent faith in Lee and what he does with the car.

“I think the results we had last year based off a fourth at Sandown and a fifth at the Gold Coast, it wasn’t a bad result considering how new everything was. We certainly knew the car wasn’t where the guys wanted it and I think this year has proved that with all the hard work that’s gone on, the cars have definitely taken a step forward.

“For the team to get their first race win is a big achievement so I’m looking forward to jumping back in the car.

“There’s no reason in the enduros that we can’t look at get podiums. To say we are going to win Sandown or Bathurst, that’s what we all go there for, but last year the reality of podiums and wins probably wasn’t really there, whereas this year Lee has proved the speed of the car and himself, so we are as good a chance as anyone else.’’

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Big ‘NZ Day Out’ for V8 Supercar drivers

4:28pm 22 January 2015

Alana McIsaac
0

Drivers present a cheque at Ronald McDonald

Super black racing put on a full on day of kiwi activities today including sheep mustering and shearing, followed…  More >

Fitness is key for rookie Heimgartner

11:24am 22 January 2015

V8 Supercars
0

20141010_132505__E5R9367

Andre heimgartner has flagged fitness as one of the areas he needs to improve ahead of his debut as…  More >

Holden Commodore set to continue its winning ways

6:50pm 20 January 2015

V8 Supercars
0

Commodore81

Holden’s decision to retain its iconic commodore nameplate for the next-generation large car to be imported from gm global…  More >

Former World Champion Paul Radisich joins Super Black Racing

12:13pm 20 January 2015

MotorNews.co.nz
0

PaulRadisich_Copyright GEOFF RIDDER

New zealand racing star and double world touring car champion, paul radisich, is set to join super black racing…  More >

V8 supercars has applied its own ban to driver brett stewart. the confederation of australian motor sport’s (cams) independent disciplinary…  More >

Ford’s FG X Supercar on its way

8:51pm 13 January 2015

V8 Supercars
0

FALCON_FGX_V8SC-11

Prodrive racing (australia) is busy finalising the race specification of the new fg x falcon ahead of…  More >

RACE COUNTDOWN

NZV8

Round 4

Teretonga Park, Invercargill, 25 January

V8 SuperTourers

Round 4

Waikato 250, Hampton Downs, 31 January

NZV8

Round 5

Manfeild Circuit, Feilding, 15 February

Indycars

Round 1

Brasilia Indy 300, Brasilia, 1 March

V8 Supercars

Round 1

Clipsal 500, Adelaide, 1 March

  • Latest story comments

  • CRC Motornews poll

    Who do you think will be top of the Kiwi in the 2014 V8 Supercars?

      View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...
  • Newsletter icon

    Get the latest motorsport news delivered to your inbox